These Are My JOTtings...

The Leaves of the Tree

This fruitful tree is my dearest friend.
O'er lovely leaves, I pour and attend
with winsome thoughts my heart it mends
in a wondrous world apart.

The leaves all spin at a whirlwind pace.
It's my ready steed to a handsome place.
The joyful lives, and imaged souls
all warm my core like dancing coals.

The stoma's door to Chlorophyll
invites me to enter, and drink each thrill.
The king, his verdant robe and crown,
enraptures my heart in the world that I've found.

A frond of mine, each petiole
assays to make me fully whole.
Ensconced in a friendly little nook
I examine every frond I took.

With a steaming cup my heart to cheer,
I chase down every road that's near.
What mysterious leaflets on each frond
that move me to drive or sail on a pond!

Exploring every leafy cell,
I find myself transformed as well.
The chlorophyll receives my barque
of carbon gas as Noah's Ark.

The change is sweeter still I know
as the fuel of sugar makes it grow.
The journey peaks as turning the leaf
has wed the couple or caught the thief.

A houseful of mirrors the stomata allures
as in and out each plot it cures.
For just when you think you've found its sure end
a new twist or turn your way it will send.

Then out you fall into a fresh pile
to give your heart new Joy awhile.
The autumn will end and winter shall come.
The xylem and phloem go deep in their sum.

Bestir you not the plant in its sleep
for the thoughts of the mind in respite so deep
give each tree and each human a chance to reflect
before a new leaf can a soul now affect.

by Jay O'Toole
on September 11th, 2018