When green to copper turns proudly down each street,

As soon as golden leaves heavy their branches above me,

And fall crunching thin to dance at my feet,

Nature is kissing transition on each bough, every tree.

I know the tide of autumn has begun to flow,

Blink, and its gone, to usher in a colder winter day,

Take comfort in change, for nature’s song knows no woe,

Apathetic, she breathes quiet death where life just lay.

Chilly gusts redden the cheeks and fingers of man,

Quickening breath and day, starless nights invoke fear,

The limbs of trees whisper wisdom while they still can,

And all else in nature scrambles silently to hear.

The autumn tree is fighting, knowing winter is near

I sit, and wait under its haunches, anticipating the wind’s aim

And as a single orange leaf escapes like a tear,

Floating with relief back to the ground from where it came,

I watch without mourning, the passing of its hearse.

Leah is originally from Wellesley, MA, and just moved to NYC.   She is an international affairs major, and on the women's tennis team here at GW.