Approaching Autumn

Oh I know what the autumn brings
It happens every year
The leaf changes her colour
And strikes me down with fear

How full of life you were before
How crisp you looked to touch
Each day I saw you 'neath the sun
I loved you ever much

Too high for me to ever reach
I loved you all the same
You were mine each day each night
But never mine by name

I searched the ground to find your roots
A first step for my climb
From roots to trunk, trunk to branch,
Soon you will be mine

And there I was on tippy-toes
Trying to make a stance
Reaching in to finally feel you
Hoping for a chance

Stop! You howled. This isn't fair
This place isn't for us
I didn't beckon you climb this tree
I'm just not worth the fuss

I'm just a leaf upon a tree
There are so many others
And though you think to know me
You do not know all my colours

Lo, to my surprise and gloom
As I was now in range
To see you weren't kidding
All your colours had now changed

The life is not within you now
You look so ever pale
Your green is now a bashful yellow
Your touch is oh so frail

And with one touch I lost you
Just one was all it took
For you to leave this place you loved
Without a second look

Goodbye, old friend, you shouted back
I do want you to know
It meant a lot, this quest of yours
It's sad I have to go

The ground is where I'm meant to be
It's so much warmer here
I couldn't survive the winter
Living just by your hot air

So down you go to where I was
I should have just stayed put
But this year I feel different
I don't wish to move my foot

I like it here, up in the sky
It's where I dreamed I'd be
'Neath the sun, perchance with you
 Nestled in this tree

The ground it doesn't suit me
I grow tired of those things
And when I look hard at myself
I discover I have wings

Up here I see yet greater heights
Heights I could never perceive
It meant a lot, this quest of mine
But now it's best to leave

I too will jump to destiny
Won't hold us back with jeer,
For I know what the autumn brings
It happens every year