A Man Amid Falling Leaves

(for James Koehnline's artwork titled 'The Fall is Near') ... ... ... ... ... ... Watching leaves in fall, we know our time is passing... leaf after leaf they notch the increments of our fleeting states... chlorophyll breaks down, and xanthophyll takes over; still soaking up energy from light, but less efficiently; a sunscreen of red-yellow remains, doing the needful, to eke out a little more life, until in turn replaced by tannin, giving time to withdraw magnesium from green pigment into the phloem, ready to be added to next spring's sap, for nourishment of new leaves... all of this has a beautiful relevance to our yellowing eyes... a fleeting light gatherer is riding down the wind, plunging headlong into the tunnel of time... a man who sprouted the green leaves of youthful doings now surrenders to fall, amid leaves that fell earlier... the time for holding golden leaves high is over, but pangs of transience will go down with them greenly.