Loose Leaves

A cold front moved in and the leaves fell. Seemed the descent came in a swoop. If you look at the fallen tree pictures in the Sandy Coverage, you will see that the leaves are still green. Walking around during the Thanksgiving Weekend, the now almost entirely brown leaves were in a constant flurry, hissing in the wind, scraping in swirls against the concrete of the sidewalk, crackling beneath the shoes as you walk, settling on the lawns and being pushed into piles.

There was a snowstorm the week after Sandy. Temperatures now feel more winter than autumn. I suppose turning brown, dry and crisp and falling is not unusual for late November, but I swear this was the first time I noticed such a sudden and near-unified rush to the ground; this was no gradual baring of the branches. Get off now, stop hoping for summer to stay, we don’t have time for autumn, winter’s here already. Who are you going to believe, the calendar or our climate changed seasons?

 

Late autumn fills the nostrils. That woodsy odor, like peat or oak, a musty, rustic fragrance signaling impending winter. Advent. Holidays. Snow. More snow… frost then ice. Spring is a long way off, even Lent. You want a cinnamon flavored beverage. You may desire warmth, but the brisk air is bracing. Chilly is better than gelid. Be used to it by and by, but now it’s new again and startling and not entirely unpleasant. These bare branches will be with us for months. Starkness is truth.

Since it seemingly happened so sudden, and over a holiday weekend, it’s understandable that piles accumulate, intermingled with Jersey City litter. Too windy to rake or blow today, let them fall, let them be. Like the marking of it, time too is inevitable.

 

Walkin' through the leaves, falling from the trees
Feelin' like a stranger nobody sees
So many things that we never will undo
I know you’re sorry, I’m sorry too

From Mississippi by Bob Dylan

Last Leaf by Tom Waits

I’m the last leaf on the tree

The autumn took the rest

But they won’t take me

I’m the last leaf on the tree

 

When the autumn wind blows

They’re already gone

They flutter to the ground

Cause they can’t hang on

There’s nothing in the world

That I ain’t seen

I greet all the new ones that are coming in green

 

I’m the last leaf on the tree

The autumn took the rest but they wont take me

I’m the last leaf on the tree

 

They say I got staying power

Here on the tree

But I’ve been here since Eisenhower

And I’ve out lived even he

 

I’m the last leaf on the tree

The autumn took the rest but they won’t take me

I’m the last leaf on the tree

 

I fight off the snow

I fight off the hail

Nothing makes me go

I’m like some vestigial tail

I’ll be here through eternity

If you want to know how long

If they cut down this tree

I’ll show up in a song

 

I’m the last leaf on the tree

The autumn took the rest but they won’t take me

I’m the last leaf on the tree

I’m the last leaf on the tree

I’m the last leaf on the tree