Maple Seeds

by Lynn Ungar

Maple Seeds  by Lynn Ungar

Most of the leaves are gone
from the maple. Other years
it’s glowed with color, but in drought
the leaves just turned brown
and dropped. Sometimes you just
can’t afford that kind of gaudy joy.
But now there are seed
by the tens of thousands,
the sidewalk heaped in
the little brown wings, flocks
of seed angels come to earth.
I know I’ll be grumbling
as I pull sprout after sprout
when the rains come. But for now
let me be a witness that letting go
is not the same as giving up,
that we could forego glamor
for the sake of the next generation,
that creation is the first principle,
to which we all belong.