William Carlos Williams

From “Root Buds”

TODAY, dear friend, this gray day,

I have been explaining to a young man of the West Indies

How the leaves all fall from the little branches

And lie soon in crowds along the bare ground;

How they lie

On all sides so thick that no man

May pass any way without touching them,

Or hearing at his feet a great crying-out!

But in no way at all could I have told him

This that I tell you so easily:

How having become wise as a flame with watching

Above the year since that time he lifted

His young face

For a moment—that time of the first passing—

They lie exultant, pressing his foot-prints,

Melting away because of their passion!