Our summer days, they were a gift
My friends, the leaves, grew green and strong
On autumn’s breeze, they break and drift
Without ceremony or song
‘Till grounded on the dewy lawn
My only friends, the leaves, are gone
Others see a leaf and think
Of mere matter inanimate
But as they fall my heart too sinks
For friendships lost to fearful fate
If love is lost it must be wrong
My friends, the leaves, are now all gone
The leaves are literally my friends
I hear them as they speak to me
Of spending hours without end
In peace above on sturdy trees
Yet here I wait ‘till winter’s dawn
My friends, the leaves, are now all gone
I took a leaf up as my lover
Passionate nights spent together
Now free to truly know another
In bliss we should have lived forever
Alas that love it shan’t live on
My lover leaf is too now gone
A child leaf my love did bear
Together we watched him grow
And built a life with all our care
For him to reap what we had sown
But astray it seems that I was drawn
My life with leaves, forever gone
–R. Shivakumar
