Leaf

Leaf

The yellow sun smiled down

on the glistening, green grass

and the reflective surface of the pond.

The park

did not yet have many visitors.

The morning fog was only just receding,

the occasional squirrel arising

from sleep.

The park was small,

quaint,

with only two cobblestone paths and

four smooth, light benches.

On one bench sat a girl.

Above her head, a baby bird chirped.

It was nested in a tall tree,

a guardian tree,

with bright green leaves.

As it awoke, singing joyously,

it shook the branch.

A leaf fell loose

and fluttered down.

Small but somehow beautiful,

the leaf landed on a slip of paper

beside the girl

that was covered in ink that whispered

words of longing and admiration.

A light breeze blew the leaf away,

right on top of a new arrival:

a red tennis shoe, on the outside of a foot,

part of a man making his way to the bench.

And the sun

continued to smile down on the park.