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The First Fallen Leaf

A single leaf begins to fall.
He wants to be the first of all.
His brethren strain to join his fun.
For now he’s still the only one.

He floats and sways inside the breeze,
but, looking up, he promptly sees
another leaf depart the tree;
and, then, another leaf makes three.

Another dozen start to race.
They fall below with gentle grace.
The first leaf feels so very proud,
as if atop a silver cloud.

His reddish colors turn to brown
as fresher leaves keep falling down.
The rusts  and yellows join the pile.
He’ll only last a little while.

He’s far below the others soon,
and no one hears his lonely tune.
He tries to sing until he’s dead.
He’s raked into a bag instead.

He struggles hard to understand
as he gets crumbled by a hand.
So dead and dry has he become!
He’s clinging onto someone’s thumb.

He lies atop the garbage bag.
His pride no longer tries to brag.
By now it’s clear his life was gone
the second that he hit the lawn.

It might be better after all,
to be the last of leaves to fall.

.

.

Seasons

It’s Fall in the forest; dropping leaves sigh
as blustering winds converge in the sky.
Some pattering rain now peppers the trees,
and turns into snow as temp’ratures freeze.

A quilt has been sewn with red, rust and white,
from soggy remains of Autumn’s delight.
This dark dreary sky has birds on the wing.
Those songbirds that fly away until Spring.

Deserted by now, the voices are gone.
The forest lies still amid the gray dawn.
A Christmas card beauty stands all alone,
where snowflakes collect, and cover a cone.

The colors of winter; black, gray and white,
suppress all the hues that can’t find the light.
But, deep down below the blanket of snow,
the seedlings and bulbs are starting to grow.

When snow starts to melt, and Spring does arrive,
all life will return and nature will thrive.
Until now and then, the sun has to rest,
but, soon will give Spring a colorful dress.

Unable to see the underground sprout,
we pout and we cry for spring to come out.
The winter gives time for new life to stir,
ensuring that Spring is bound to occur.

.

.

Pamela Ruggiero was born in Urbana, Illinois in 1952. She currently resides in Antioch, California.
She was a software engineer and did consultation work in IT. She also played tournament chess at a high level and did oil paintings. She’s now retired.

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23 Responses

  1. Jeffrey Essmann

    Dear Ms. Ruggiero: I sensed a deeper level to the pleasure I had as I read “The First Fallen Leaf”, and I realized that it was reminding me of one of my favorite fairy tales as a child, Han Christian Andersen’s “The Fir Tree”, lines of which I remember verbatim to this day (“‘Rejoice in thy youth,’ said the sunbeam, but the fir tree heeded it not.”) So thank you ever-so for this sweet and sentimental ode both to my favorite season and, incidentally, to the joys of my childhood reading. God bless, Jeffrey

    Reply
    • Pamela Ruggiero

      You are right, Jeffrey. There is a far more deeper meaning to this poem than just the falling leaf. I thank you for catching that and I thank you for your comments and I hope to be responding to a lot of other people on this site now that I’m giving up another site.

      I look forward to seeing your work

      Reply
  2. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Pamela, those are two exceptionally enchanting poems. “The First Fallen Leaf” is a creative and fascinating way to paint the images of leaves falling and the fate of the first leaf seeming to regret “leaving,” which has a deeper meaning for us all. “Seasons” is such a well rhymed description that also has a deeper meaning for us. As you can tell, I really admire both poems.

    Reply
    • Pamela Ruggiero

      Thank you, Roy so much for this incredible feedback and encouragement for me. I have had many more poems that I’ve submitted rejected and have been accepted for more.

      I am leaving another site for a while. That other site was taking all of my time and now I should be able to at least occasionally get on here and look at other peoples posts.

      Is there a way to change your poem once you put it here? I have improved one of the lines in the seasons poem. Again, thank you for all of your feedback

      Reply
  3. Paul A. Freeman

    The First Fallen Leaf, in its simplicity, could be used in teaching children about autumn, the universe and everything. Like Jeffrey, it felt to me like a fairy tale, though a little on the dark side. I’m reminded of Oscar Wilde’s The Remarkable Rocket’.

    In Seasons, while I sit here shirtless and in shorts, sweltering in Saharan humidity, you transport me through the pages of nostalgia to all those years of my youth in Britain and the grey coldness that threatened never to end.

    As a suggestion, perhaps you could use ‘descending’ instead of ‘falling’ in the first line to avoid repetition of ‘fall’. Even though it adds an extra syllable, I feel it works as a feminine ending.

    Thanks for the reads.

    Reply
    • C.B. Anderson

      I don’t know whether or not you were aware of it, Paul, but there’s a camel sitting on your shoulder, and I don’t mean the cigarette.

      Reply
      • Paul A. Freeman

        Only the one hump, Pamela. It’s an Arabian (dromedary) camel, found in North Africa and Arabia – this one was in a mall installation in Abu Dhabi.

        The two-humped Bactrian camel is found in the Gobi Desert, I believe.

    • Pamela Ruggiero

      Hi. Thank you for reading both of my poems and for taking the time to come in on them am I allowed to change my poem once it’s on this site, thank you Your words mean a lot to me they are encouraging and thoughtful

      Reply
      • Paul Freeman

        Evan is usually very accommodating to a change or two if you email him, Pamela. I’ve had the odd dodgy spelling in the past that’s needed attention.

    • Pamela Ruggiero

      Hi, Paul. Thank you so much for your kind and wonderful words and for your suggestion

      I don’t know if I can change this poem now that it’s on this site, but I did think that I could change the word falling to dropping, and that still keep the meter and the the same thing do you if there’s any way to change it now that it’s already out here?

      Again, thank you so much for your encouragement

      Reply
  4. Peg

    I very much enjoyed your poems, Ms Ruggiero… the last lines of “The First Fallen Leaf” brought me a welcomed giggle, thank you!!

    Reply
    • Pamela Ruggiero

      You are welcome! Thank you in return for your kind words and for letting me know that you giggled. Maybe this should become a children’s book. Everybody’s always telling me that I should write a children’s book

      By the way, somebody else attached her photograph to his poem and I would sure like to thank her, but I’m not sure how. Maybe I’ll check with Evan on that.

      Thank you again for your wonderful comments

      Reply
  5. Shamik Banerjee

    Two delightful poems! In “The First Fallen Leaf,” with every stanza, the happiness of the leaf segues into regret and sorrow; I was kind of expecting the nature of message stated by the final couplet. It’s a simple yet worth remembering piece. And I fully agree with Mr. Freeman—it’s an ideal piece for Children to learn about Autumn and life itself. The second poem beings with tone of lifelessness but ends with hope and positivity. My favourite lines are: “A quilt has been sewn with red, rust and white,
    from soggy remains of Autumn’s delight” and “Until now and then, the sun has to rest,
    but, soon will give Spring a colorful dress.” I think this piece also talks about being patient. Thanks for this, Mrs. Ruggiero.

    Reply
    • Pamela Ruggiero

      Thank you, Shamik for your wonderful comments and great feedback I really appreciate your words on both poems because they help me to improve my poetry

      Reply
    • Pamela Ruggiero

      Thank you so much, David for your feedback and your encouragement. I take your saying that I paint pictures with words as a compliment and I appreciate that I look forward to reviewing some of your work. I have been on this site that has taken me 12 hours a day full-time every day of the week and I’m going to drop that site and favor of, preparing some other poems for this one

      Reply
  7. C.B. Anderson

    In “Seasons”, Pamela, you make a contraction out of “temperature.” This is not necessary because any good reader of metrical poetry will know that elision is called for here. Trust your readers!

    Reply
    • Pamela Ruggiero

      Thank you, CB for these wonderful informative comments. I post not only to this site but a site worthy poets and novels and storytellers review my work and they are not as sophisticated as the people here so I write down to their level because otherwise they mark me down on their reading of me.

      Thanks again for the good feedback

      Reply
  8. Margaret Coats

    Like others, Pamela, I enjoy the fable-like quality of “The First Fallen Leaf.” It’s suitable for children and adults alike.

    Reply
  9. Pamela Ruggiero

    Thank you, Margaret for commenting on my first fallen leaf poem. Seems to be a group consensus that this would be good for a children’s book

    I appreciate you taking the time to read and comment on

    Reply
  10. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    Simply beautiful! These mellifluous marvels are delightful. I particularly love the onomatopoeic line, “Some pattering rain now peppers the trees” – wonderful!

    Reply

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