Daylight lingers on her fingertips.
A fuss of sparrows makes her stop the moment
and then to ponder the pattern of a leaf,
veiny roadways of sappy nourishment –
chlorophyll cocktail absorbs the languishing light.

She notices the leaf’s resemblance to her hand.
Big and little ones all share the same arm
of a family tree, like a protective umbrella,
or intricate solar array powering the mighty trunk of timber.

O’r the years the many worker-leaves formed curled, then unfurl,
to push forth to embrace the nurturing sun, to praise the day,
and eventually fall to the earth.
The persistent limbs reach up to the birds,
to the sky, to connect earth to heaven.

MH