Rot

Right now, I am a decaying leaf
Let me be

I have been a bud before; full of potential and hope

I have grown, transformed, and blown in the breeze

I have endured storms, been shit on by birds, clung on for dear life

I have felt the coming of the season of death

I have watched others fall and perish

I have died and been reborn, over and over


This is the season of rot
Let me lie

Do not rake me up with your affirmations

Do to try to keep my color with your praise

Do not pick me up and place me in your pocket...
hoping for a resurrection


I am gone
Leave me dead

I will return to the ground; reborn in the spring

But I will be different

Maybe a blade of grass, a fungi, a sprig of moss
No longer a leaf


Let me change

Watch the miraculous rebirth from a distance

Take photos with your phone

Love that I exist at all

...But leave me still.