Charlotte Mandel

Deciduous

The maple stands in orange-tinted confusion, leaves in strong wind hitting against one another, but clinging to twig and branch. Leaf colors – reds, yellows, mauves – are lasting longer because of unusual summer warmth. In its thirty years since planting, the tree followed a schedule that matched my calendar time, leaves beginning to turn celebratory color in late September, floating to earth on October winds, bare by mid-November's chill. The outermost leaves spread out like hands of a person asking “what am I to do now?”

red leaves        following         ski tracks