The Softness of Letting Go

It was a formidable journey.
Faint screeches rose as they became airborne.
This was the moment every leaf feared:
when their work was finished,
when the branch could hold them no longer,

they were cast into the unknown.
Brave little leaves.

I sat at the pond’s edge and watched
as they drifted downward, torn
from the only home they had ever known.
Some made the journey alone.
Others clung to each other in fear.
But as each touched the water’s surface,
where they expected a heavy, final splat,
there came instead a soft, resounding sigh--
Ahhhhhh--

as though release itself was the reward.

Live in color,
Abby