The last leaf…desperately hanging on.

Swaying, stretching and living,  wanting to hold on, if only for a another brief and fading moment.

Those precious seconds,  truly a speck in time, sees former lush green magnificence giving way to a kaleidoscope of colors, shifting, swirling, changing , all trying to avoid the inevitable.

Shades of red, brown, yellow and burnt orange, taken from the deep cool breaths of Autumn’s womb, force the reluctant loner to accept the inevitability of pending stark, speckled death coupled with a sickly sweet and painfully slow decay.

For weeks the leaf hangs on.

The return to the earth beckoning, its grip, once tight and life affirming, loosens.

As it breaks away, floating slowly, gently and with purpose,  the memories of soaring heights and warm breezes permeate its existence.

The leaf continues its descent and the once vivid memories begin to fade. Sadness surrounds the leaf as it surrenders itself to the cool, damp ground.

The last leaf is finally home.