That Leaf

[alatos]

That Leaf

That leaf, which pops out of the burgundy stalk,
half in shade, beneath my porch, beside gravel walk,
and gives rest to a bug (of an unknown sort, crawling slowly), soaks in day:
playing stoic receiver of the birds’ report.

Yes, this same leaf,
with its yellowed edge,
needs no belief,
has no creed, takes no pledge.
Of course has no learning
but the sun and the rain,
yet this leaf knows my yearning:
this leaf knows no pain.

the burgandy and yellow seem a bit at odds, what about using another shade of burgundy for the second verse instead of 'yellowed' but then, it could be a burgandy stemmed plant with yellowed leaves i guess oh, how about purple and gold? I'm trying to be useful but fear that I'm failing, I liked the first verse much more than the second, the last two lines are a bit too 'much'.

It is indeed a description true to nature. I wrote about an actual burgundy stalk, yellow-edged leaf, and an unidentified bug crawling on it.

I also felt that the end was the weak point as far as the writing went. It has the real point of the poem, I just struggled trying to put together the last few lines to sound more "real", they sound sort of unnatural to me. What the whole point of the poem is supposed to be is that even though something as simple as a leaf has no education, no religion, no friends, etc., it is still "happier" than human beings with all of our possessions and education. I realize the leaf doesn't feel anything, I think that goes without saying though. To me the leaf was just a symbol for nature. I guess this is a pretty romantic poem really.