Burning Leaves

In a rare moment of peace...I gathered the fallen leaves from the Boneyard today,
and burned them near the shore of the lake. The sun was setting and the effort sapped
my strength so I sat near the shore and watched the fire rising into the sky. Small
cindered leaves, the spines of their shape a glow like luminescent bones..then fading
into nothing. The earthy smell of the leaves mixed with the flames, brings so many
memories back to me. Long I sat and enjoyed the moment, the flickering flames mirrored
on the water, the smell of burning leaves in the air...the moment was beautiful...so few
learn to see the beauty...the austere quality of the end of life, so noble so final..like
a life the leaves are born, grow and absorb the energy of the world about them, then in
the end they flicker once again and return that energy to the world...pure glowing flames
illuminate the waterline. It is no mistake that I the agent of Death were meant to witness
such things, for I can never return anything to the world in the way these leaves do, so I
sit and watch, humble before the cycle of life and death, serving it forever. The fire grows
dim, the moon takes her place in the sky and I the hand of Death sit on the shore of this lake
my relection showing the skull beneath the skin..the Skull Beneath the Skin.