LJ Idol: Prompt- "Happy Detritus"

[drippedonpaper]

Title: "Falling"

And the leaves are falling, falling, falling
Falling like the laws that come and go
Leaders, power, and acorns
Fall equally.

Nature is king.
Gravity rules.
Everything comes down.

Reality swirls in the air
And I don't know where it's going,
Is it coming together
Or falling apart?
Lazy slow circles of leaves,
Quick bursting flurries
that whiz away.

What did I see?
What did you see?
Do any of us see
Anymore?

But ready or not,
It's gone.
Is the country gone?
Are my children gone?
What is gone?
What lingers?

Spring will show.

But to have blossoms,
First,
You fall apart
Bursting into phoenix colors.
I'm burning with passion,
With joy,
My ideals on full display
All can finally see me and now and now
It's over.

First the fading:
Red and orange become crackling brown
Better to fade than fall?

Or go ahead and fall,
Dance,
Wander on the wind of might-have-been?
One last trip before the reckoning?
One fleeting flutter before the fire?

Dreams crunch underfoot.
Chilly wind draws us to the flames.
Moths enamored by our own destruction.
Excitement in danger
Violent flares explode our dreams.

Smoldering embers can reignite.
Loss of a forest,
Loss of a land,
Loss of all we thought was growing.
Empty land
With nothing left to steal.

Summer's shade now autumn coals.
Democratic bonfire-
One last shining
Before the world goes dark.

(The unchosen rot
In quiet piles
Hidden beneath snow.
Nameless remains
Never identified.)

On flows the tide,
Seasons ride.
Death keeps roots warm.

Standing
Revealed and alone.
Flawed skeletons
Unadorned.

A rebirth?
A rebranding?
Who writes the history?
What is truth?

What will sprout in Spring?
Will anything ever grow?
Snow dampens any whispers.
Only the trees know.