The other night, the wind and rain

slapped a lot of beauty out of their canopies.

The rain fell on the leaves,

the leaves fell like rain.

The colors lay dead.

I tried to rally my kids to pick them up.

I gave them Elmer’s glue and a stapler.

I had a few ladders, too.

The sun was out and how much

I wanted to see the colors against a cool blue sky

rather than on faded green and asphalt and gravel.

I prayed for a resurrection

and imagined the maples bending,

gathering leaves like fallen feathers.

But then, my kids dropped the glue

and staples and the disbelief

their faces had shown me.

They ran for rakes.

With their faces flush with autumn air,

they piled up the leaves on the runway.

They carelessly overlaid color on color,

like a scribbler with crayons.

Their excitement rose, as did the pile.

I saw the clear blue sky in their eyes

as they lay laughing in the spectrum.

I smiled as their redemptive act

fell on me like cool rain in the night.

Photo by Dinolms