This poem uses leaves and birds as symbols of the fragility of life. Cherishing, remembering, learning, and reflecting make life all the more precious; by remembering and facing what has happened, we gradually move toward understanding and reconciliation, allowing life to take on a deeper and more enduring meaning.
Timid Leaves
By Cathy Xinman
How sunlight leaps across the leaves.
A bird lies on the wet stairs,
like a quiet storm,
alive with yesterday.
The hurried morning sky.
The birds have flown away.
I miss them.
On a weekend of a storm
rarely seen in a century,
I watched them dart swiftly through,
lively slashes,
between the branches
that have shed all their hair.
Intimate fragility,
too close to me,
yet they are closer to the storm.
I cannot make love come alive.
Cruel autumn.
Timid leaves.
Watch how the sunlight takes its promise
and tells it through metaphor
to the immortal.
First draft: October 24, 2024
Finalized: September 20, 2026
Cathy Xinman writes poetry in English and Chinese. Find her English-language collection, Where You Love Yourself, on Amazon. You can also hear her poetry on her TikTok page.
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