(Connections)
I wonder why the leaves of beech
Hold fast much longer than the rest?
When winter sweeps across the hills
And oak and maple are undressed,
When all the wood’s an empty place,
And Life’s moved on to warmer climes,
How is it beech and leaf retain
What all the others left behind?
These dry leaves serve no purpose now
That I can see in passing by;
Yet they remain persistently
Connected by some deeper tie.
Is it the tree that’s holding on,
As if it can’t abide the loss,
And so secures a stouter grip
To keep them all from drifting off?
Or is it leaves that won’t let go?
Too stubborn in their aged ways
To step aside, and so defer
Their own demise a few more days.
Or is it something else besides —
Some wordless tryst beneath the flow
That marries life to life in ways
Undaunted by the undertow …?
Their season’s come and gone, that’s so;
For Nature’s not to be denied.
And yet these rattling leaves confess
A hunger not yet satisfied
By any reasons men contrive
To say, “It’s this, and nothing more,”
That lifts our gaze beyond our selves
To what it is we’re reaching for.
Ron O’Brien
Amburgey (Knott County)