Before you turn the page, pause for a moment. Remember the last time you walked through fallen leaves and heard that distinctive rustle beneath your feet? That fragile, enduring sound is where the poem “Maple Leaves Rustle, Another Season” begins. It’s not just about autumn—it’s about all the seasons of our lives: the people who pass through us, the traces they leave, and the quiet understanding that grows in the spaces between memory and the present.
Let these words guide you through a landscape where rain steps on leaves alongside the narrator, where love stays silent yet speaks volumes, and where time itself becomes a companion on the journey. As you read, you may discover that these rustling leaves echo something you’ve long felt but never quite articulated.
Maple Leaves Rustle, Another Season
By Cathy Xinman
The maple leaves are wet,
The sun comes out.
I step on the leaves.
In the morning, I step on the leaves,
Rain steps on the leaves.
Rustle, rustle.
You ran too fast,
Traces of you are everywhere.
Perhaps it’s better this way—
you are in all things.
I look around, everywhere feels like a battlefield.
You make no sound,
My pain makes no sound.
Your footprints—
Rustle, rustle.
You ran too chaotically,
No one could move you.
Yet you still left behind branches,
Quiet and damp.
Rain will be absorbed by the water.
You will be in the distance,
And my sorrow will be in the distance, too.
The net you cast is deep in the sea,
Touching all things with silence.
Only the wind sings upon the water’s face.
My love makes no sound,
And you, in the rain, make no sound.
Perhaps it’s better this way—
No one can envy my solitude.
Time, you make no sound.
Holding my hand, we climb again.
Rustle, rustle, another season.
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. She is also editor-in-chief The Best Poems of the Year by Chinese Poets & Writers of the World 2025. People with Chinese ancestry can submit poetry to this anthology in Chinese or English by emailing cnawpress@gmail.com.
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