The Falling of the Leaves: A Poem by Shashi Dhar Kumar

Upon the quiet earth, a whispered sigh,
The autumn wind gently weaves its song,
Through boughs grown thin beneath the sky,
Where golden leaves in fragile grace belong.

Each leaf, a flame once kissed by summer’s hand,
It tumbles softly through nature’s vast decay,
As if the earth itself can understand
The fleeting pulse of life that slips away.

Oh, fleeting beauty! Time’s unkind caress
Has tinged thy green with sorrow’s russet hue.
Yet in thy fall, a solemn loveliness
Adorns the ground with dreams both old and new.

The air grows still, as though it holds its breath,
While twilight casts its shadows long and deep.
And there beneath, a quiet tale of death
It gives birth to seeds the frozen earth will keep.

So let them fall, these leaves, this transient life,
To rest beneath the stars’ eternal gleam.
For in their fall, there ends no bitter strife,
But nature’s soft surrender to her dream.