fallen leaves folding
giving up on dreams of sun
ready to be earth

(The last message before the rise of Meeting at Albany Friends, offered by an older woman who uses a wheelchair, included an element of show and tell… an older woman passes a desiccated and falling apart leaf around, recommending that everyone smell it to remember what fall smells like, and to notice that it now tends to fold open, like the pages of a book spine broken through reading.)