I love this change

After that heavy summer 

Nothing beats driving windows down 

A cold breeze hitting my warm face

Down a lonely, long street

Bronze leaves falling seamlessly

A leaf falls on my lap 

And aren’t the best things in our lives

Like this

When one doesn’t even expect it 

I keep it and I begin 

To laugh about the coincidence 

Of how it chose me 

Of how I could’ve been in a different street

I put it on top of my dashboard 

And smiled at it 

Then I thought

Wouldn’t it die if I left it here without sunshine 

I suddenly felt like I was trapping it 

Like it should be outside 

I should leave it be with the other leaves

Finally I snap out of it 

And the next day I look at it again 

On my dashboard 

And I realized how much care 

I can have and I kept thinking 

About how if I really cared about it

I shouldn’t have trapped it in my car

And I thought of all other things 

And people who are now memories

Did I care about them this way? 

How foolish I felt 

That caring about someone is twofold 

The thought of caring 

And showing it 

I live in my head so much 

That I’ve acted out hundreds of acts of care

But out here 

Where the leaf should be 

I hardly stepped a foot on 

Why am I scared 

Of the satisfaction of leaves crunching 

On the ground