The Weight of a Leaf

We have bent to love

as a twig bends

to the weight of a leaf.

Together

we have felt the brush of wind,

learned where ripples

breathe under boulders,

listened for sounds

of a forest growing.

From the heat of fire,

the cold of stone,

fire and stone, stone and fire;

birth and death, death and rebirth,

has grown this forest--

has grown this love.

And from the bending

to the weight of a leaf.