A leaf floats down in 1941
A world at war;
Peace yet undone.
A crying boy runs below the summer shelter,
An innocent mind, a soul to splinter.
Dad has not returned from war,
 Ocean eyes blinking tidal waves to the floor.
Tears sink and splash the roots
Tiny root hairs spring up like shoots,
He buries his tired head against the bark
Lingering till light threatens dark.
A leaf twists down into 1951
Children playing in the autumn sun,
Their ball gets stuck at the top of the tree,
A little girl climbs and hurts her knee.
The wind sways as the children laugh,
Brushing their way with a cornflake path
An emerald leaf spins into 1963,
She lays out a picnic beneath the tree,
Her little dog pulls at the cloth,
He drags all the food and runs off.
The silent tree watches as the chase begins
Everyone falls over tired as the little dog wins.
Swirling leaves fly in the whistling wind of 1984
An old lady laced with roses places them at the grassy floor,
She wipes her face with a crinkled tissue,
Sits on the bench and breathes in the view.
Yellow leaves weave into 1995
A teenage boy throws a stone at a beehive,
His friends laugh as he runs for his life;
Hissing bees seething, each one a flying knife
No leaves fall as 2008 opens its wings,
An old man limps over to the park and sings.
 He touches the tree as if it were gold,
Closes his eyes and remembers he was here before he got old.
The branch made by a little boys tears
Hangs above him holding icy spheres
His old hands lined with life, camouflaged into the bark
With a gentle smile he stays, till light threatens dark.