Appropriately,

Autumn’s leaves in reds, yellows, browns,

blanket the earth in a timely death

when all is as it should be.

Waiting winters crystal coffin

to hold Mother’s sleep,

Her shroud, white and frozen

for the season.

But,

now I sit on my back porch

near Summer’s birth,

Spring’s life-burst still,

in shades of Her, “first greens gold”

and a rainbow flowered burst,

all to protect Mother

from coming Summers glare and heat.

Yet,

I am close to tears,

watching new green leaves

drift down from the boughs of trees,

dappling black, fecund soil

in a premature demise.

Mother losing her babies

in a more poignant dying

than the right death of Autumn.

So,

comes to my mind

the ever unanswered question,

“Why do green leaves die?”

Why the NICU’ed infant?

Why the mad shooter in the middle school?

Why the ever raised shout of “Duty, Country, God or Death!!”

to the young patriots heart

until the bullet finds its mark

and the beating stops?

Why must green leaves fall?