One leaf left (second draft)

"One leaf left"

The last Autumn breath
     slides it's soft caress
          across my face
               as it gives way
                    for the hard cold of winter's chill.
On the gentle sways of silence

               a painful gray hangs heavy
          on the icy air
     as the trees become barren of all their leaves
except for one.

               I see this one leaf left.

My eyes gloss over
as they hold
on the delicate fluttering
               Of this single leaf,
at the edge of it's absolution, just
clinging beyond the inevitable.

This leaf,

     holds and sways
     in defiance of winter's breeze,
And as winter waits
behind a shimmering veil
of dancing white,
               my eyes cling to this single leaf.

As I fight
     the swell of time
that has begun to drip
          to the very end of my lashes
to see this one leaf left,
A sharp cool wind
     swims in past the empty branches
          toward this last leaf.

Fluttering
     And
Flipping,
   
     Its stem is ripped away
          From it's home.
                                   My eyes shoot upward
                with this leaf,
                                   watching it dance
          across the sky
                    And as I do
         These tears of mine finally
Begin to fall.

-Armando Torres