Tears Fall

They wouldn’t listen to me at first, set in their ways, roots too deep to uproot (I understood because who was I but a stranger?) but I spoke the words out loud none the less and let them know my admiration for them, they have a strength that I so desperately want to find within myself, I loved the trees so tall and thin yet so strong and undeterred by even the mightiest of winds—the lively green of their leaves danced proudly in the wind when I spoke of this— and it wasn’t long before I realized that maybe they were listening to me, maybe they were believing my words and maybe they were recognizing the vibrations of my footsteps through the cool earth, they soon turned a blushing shade of apple when they realized I had no intention of stopping until they wholeheartedly believed me, they wept with joy at the kind words shedding their leaves and letting them plop down to the dirt covered ground and I was happy—not because they were losing their leaves in their flustered states but because their tears were so vibrant with color, with life, with the promise of a new day where lush green overtakes the burnt orange— and when they cried their last leaf and grew barren of life I told them I loved them still as I raked their tears and gingerly tuck them into a bag for safekeeping but they had no more tears to show that they heard so I whispered my goodbyes and promised to be back as I tossed the bag of tears and twigs over my shoulder, leaving my dear friends with their bare limbs and silent thoughts.