Autumn begins today

It comes year after year
Everything is ripe
And the leaves are ready
to break away
from their trees

Four leaves rest on
one particular branch
One year a leaf breaks off
And lands on the footsteps of St. Thomas

The next year
the second breaks off
Landing of the campus
of Moorhead state

Three years later,
the third fell off
And landed on the football field
of Gustavus Adolphus

But the last leaf is still
stuck on the branch
Waiting for her time
to find her destiny

For years and years
We all sat on
this branch
Being nurtured by mother nature
Now one by one
They left me here on my own
 
How can they leave me here?
On my own?
Alone on this branch
They can’t just go
and leave me here
I need them to guide me

What if when I break away
I fall to the impoverish ground
And get crushed into pieces
by life’s heavy boot

And yet they leave me anyway
They can no longer
shield me from the rain
I have to keep myself dry now

But I will embrace the storm
Because soon it will be
my time to break away
To find my own destiny