No raking please…
Just let the leaves stay right where they are. I’m not finished with them. I need them to drift and swirl and float and land and rest undisturbed for a while yet.
I’ve waited so long–all winter, all spring, all summer in fact, to stand in the wind and let the browns and yellows and woody greens and reds…oh, the reds, fall into my out stretched fingers.
Please let them stay until I’ve had my fill. Until there is no need for jumping in them or hiding under them or sloshing through them. Until the very sight and smell of them no longer makes me breathe more deeply–with my eyes shut–to lock them safely inside my heart. Until the feel of them falling in my hair no longer makes me shiver like Christmas.
My advice to you is…please
…wait.
That’s pretty Mom! 🙂 We’ll leave them as long as you! 😉
And so we should—leave them, I mean.