The Truth of Living and Dying

I looked upon the leaves and they spoke to me:

“Look long upon us and you will find the truth 

of living and dying.” So, I gazed long but no truth

came. They remained on their boughs even as

night fell and still yet when the dawn arrived.

The next day I looked again upon the leaves

and again, they spoke to me: “Look long upon us

and you will find the truth of living and dying.”

Again, I gazed for many hours, till night came

and sleep took me and I dreamt of the leaves

and their great secret, as yet unrevealed. 

Days passed like this, again and again.

The leaves told me to look long upon them

that I might find the truth of living and dying.

But it seemed I could never look long enough.

One day, in early Autumn, I was walking along

in my garden when I heard the sound of laughter.

I looked around and saw no one there, but then

something touched me on the shoulder. It was

a leaf that had fallen from the great oak tree.

I looked up. Many other leaves were falling,

and I realized it was them that were laughing.

I looked long at the leaves as they fell one by one,

hoping they would once and for all tell me the truth

of living and dying. They spoke not, and just laughed.

Days passed, and I would walk among the fallen leaves

in my garden, listening to the sound of their laughter.

They turned brittle, and died, and still they laughed.

I looked long at the leaves as they fell from the trees

One by one and died. Still, the laughter climbed and climbed.

Then one day the snow fell, and covered the earth

and the leaves. All was silent in my garden, except

for the sound of what seemed to be a muffled scream.

The sound lasted throughout the winter. It haunted me

like a vague memory. Then one day, long after most

of the snow had melted away, I noticed my tree was

beginning to bud. The little green leaflets sprouting

upon the branch spoke to me: “Look long upon us

and you will find the truth of living and dying.”

I recalled the laughter of the autumn, and the muffled scream

of winter. I looked at my boots and saw the fresh black earth,

to which the dead leaves had contributed their nutrients. It spoke:

“Things live and die so that that which has never lived has a chance

at one day living, so that the winter may not last forever, and, 

presiding over all seasons, there may be an eternal spring.

We live life to teach the truth of life, and we die to fulfill it.

We leave behind the tree of life that we might find our spirit.”