The Lonely Leaf

Dark was the night, a few people were still on their way back home after their day’s work, a cyclist was trying hard to make his way out against glaring lights from the trucks on the opposite side, a car full of young boys were whistling their way to a late night movie, a young lady was hurrying up home may be today she had to attend a meeting before leaving her office,….the air was chill she pulled her scarf tight and made her steps faster, the leaf had begun to shake even more vigorously as the air blew……standing by the side of the road this old tree had been there for ages……nobody in the neighbourhood could really tell how long it might have been there but the leaf certainly knew how long it had held its stem and watched life’s play. Sometimes just an onlooker sometimes part of the game itself.
It seems just a few days in a beautiful rainy weather, when the sun shone so pleasantly and the neighbouring puddle was so full of small children jumping and splashing muddy water on each other when the plants around the puddle had fragrant flowers blooming, the leaf felt as if it had been sent to paradise with young fellow-beings on the same stem and the tree was full of many like itself.
Soon the rains were heavy the leaf dreaded the sound of thunder and shivered when there was lightening. A few of its fellow-beings simply fell off, it watched helplessly and silently.
There was a slight chill in the air, fragrance on its own tree, and the flowers soon turned to fruits, ripe and juicy they gave birth to many new saplings around and the leaf felt a mad sense of joy.
Few seasons of rain, sun, snow and spring and the leaf loved every hue.
Today it had turned pale, some of its veins had broken and some felt a crackling in its fold, a portion of it had already withered and the leaf was quiet, sad and lonely.
The cyclist was gone, the car had sped far ahead, the young lady had found her husband who had come looking for her…………………………….there was a gush of strong wind the leaf could no longer hold, it had given up all its energy it just slipped off the tree.