Leaving home

F. Lee Jennings 

Multitudes of them daily leaving
leaving home yet not quite grieving
different ways but the same
from every color, hue and region
leaving, leaving home in legions

ones and twos and threes and tens
not quite sure when it begins
no one tried to make them stay
though some were sad to see them go
they didn’t try to stop them though

for after all that time at home
twas good for them to go and roam
to twirl around and skew off there
while many others soared and sailed
their mothers all just stood and wailed

so soon they all would come to rest
to make the forest floor a nest
a colored carpet laid each fall
by leafy children of the trees
landing there on bended knees

Then wait beneath the winter snow
hidden there while sharp winds blow
for next years children coming down
coming twirling, sailing down
a carpet laid still coming down