Air heavy from recent drizzle,

It’s overcast and surprisingly warm for late October.

The neighbor’s walnut tree is barren.

Our linden sheds floating leaves;

Various maples are deciding when to lose theirs.

Magically, a small leaf from the snowball bush dangles mid-air,

A rusty crescent moon tethered by a delicate spider thread.

Stem down, it gently pirouettes;

A copper-specked-yellow-lined-whirling-mellow-dervish

Oblivious to logic and earth pull and autumnal decay.

Does it dance to spite gravity?

Or to cut loose and become compost?