falling leaves
crackling leaves
underneath my feet
spread across once barren lands
waiting, wanting to be heard
by the passers-by of autumnal nights.
though they say not a word
they fill the air as they fill the ground
with whispers of the frost to come.
heavy steps fall atop the leaves
hurrying past with not a thought of what is beneath.
they do their best to fight our eminence
even so, the knife falls short of the gun.
we, not caring to sweep them aside,
leave them lying in their boundless numbers;
we let fall all that would encumber.
"let us take, they know not how to give"
we say this to ourselves,
in hopes our words fall on deaf ears
but no words of ours will calm their fears.

maybe their are too many trees...
too many glimmers that meet the eye
a gleam that imprisons more than it frees.
we sway their sense of right and wrong
til they lift their voices to a different song.
who here has courage enough to act?