CHATTERING LEAVES 

The leaves all gabble and they chatter
in fast, impatient tongues
and call out, “Winter soon is coming.
There is much work to be done.
You must hurry now and gather in
the harvest from the fields,
the apples from the orchards,
the fare that nature yields.
Gather up the nuts that fall
and the frost grapes on the vine,’
the leaves all seem to chatter,
‘It is almost wintertime.”

Sometimes the leaves all seem to sing,
sometimes to laugh and tease.
Falling off their swaying boughs,
they go dancing on the breeze.
They scurry by and beckon me
to also dance and play,
take in all the beauty now
before winter comes our way,
before the frigid cold of winter
turns the earth crystal white,
‘Come’ the leaves all chatter,
‘take in the awesome sites…’
And then I hear the leaves all calling,
‘Come now and reap the harvest
gather up the season’s bounty
that God and earth has blessed.’
Still sometimes it seems they’re calling me
to stroll among the trees,
to laugh with them and to listen to
their chattering on the breeze.

The fields are ripe and waiting
and there is much work to be done
but oh, how I love to walk the woods,
to listen to the chattering tongues
throughout the autumn forest,
to see their gemlike colors, leaves
now dressed in their autumn best
and dancing off the trees,
two-stepping ‘cross the meadow
and teasing graceful butterflies
who join them in their airy flight
across the autumn skies.

I love to hear their carefree chatter
as they shuffle down the street
and sing and gabble happily
as they scurry ’round my feet.
Oh how fair is the autumn,
fresh, clear air, gentle breeze,
the gem-crowned fields and forest
and the chattering of leaves.