The Last Leaf
It’s not for fear of falling that I cling,
in the cold autumn rain, the pin-prick wind.
It’s not for the drop that I know will be graceful,
the floating, and sashaying gently down.
To land once again within my family and community,
into the familiarity of a damp leaf-textured ground…
Because, for weeks, upon its piles,
I have silently looked down.
I am here, chosen by fate to wait.
My acceptance of this lonely role,
will make… the surrender even sweeter when I go.
The icy gusts twist and tease; I am ready to give in.
I am ready to twirl and descend while I spin,
then to lay a last time, with those of my kind
to let go…and become something else again.
Karima Hoisan
Nov. 2, 2018
In the Leaf Room
“Creation” Kitely Virtual Worlds on Demand
*Footnote: Thank you to Jeanne Roup for posting this picture on Facebook.
Digital Rabbit Hole 
Lovely, deep, and so seasonally appropriate! No sorrow in being the last to go, just patience and anticipation of the graceful descent…
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… it makes me think of the Buddhist idea of the Bodhisattva; rather than just running to her own enlightenment, she stays here and works until everyone else is saved, before going herself.
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Oh Dale, that’s beautiful and yes, very appropriate for our little leaf:)
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Thank you..well, our little Leaf Room on Creation in Kitely, has been calling me to write a poem, since I created it, but..it took seeing this photo, my friend, Jeanne, sent me..to go that extra mile and actually do it:)
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Mine is not quite so profound. For me I go back to being a 7 year old Colorado boy I November reliving the chill air. Snow is coming and you can smell it in the air. Smoky pungent delights pour from chimneys. After the first snow a few leaves still cling. I used to watch them in amazement. I liked to lay on the cold ground and look up into the tree and it’s few leaves and ponder life. I can remember the sweet smell of wet leaves piling up. For me it was wonderful, but meant impending death for the leaf and I just felt sad. I loved the brilliant colors-but felt the loss of all the leaves I loved in the summer. For both of us it was a visceral experience. Your leaf was happy to be reuniting with it’s friends. The turn of the wheel. Of the calendar. Of the great Life Cycle. As a child I just felt the loss. But your leaf was happy to be part of the turning wheel! I guess it is all summed up by “acceptance”. Sweet!
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Thank you Ron, for leaving your comment here. Yes I too can see autumn in general and this little leaf in a nostalgic and sad way..but my muse( smiles:) coaxed me into seeing it in this light. My poetry as of late, has been a bit on the nostalgic side, so this even felt good to me…*thanks her muse. I experienced Fall in my school years in Milwaukee..I think it was my favorite season, and the reason that I reconstructed a little Autumn Diorama on Creation. I like the word visceral…it captures and describes very well where much of my poetry springs from. As a child I don’t think I had the depth yet to contemplate metaphors on Life with the seasons, but after my father’s death at 12, yes..I became aware of falls and winters…
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Fall is for me, and I think I can read between the lines, for you too, the harbinger of winter and at the same time something like a promise or a pledge of renewal before the circle of life slows down to winter.
All the leafs are not lost or forgotten, they are important for all life, more than ever in winter. They make sure that their tree survives the winter and they are shelter for hedgehogs and so forth.
With all their brownish red and golden colours they set a sign thats like a bursting bonfire of life. Saying: Hey here we are, dont be mournful! Remember us in all our glory from green to golden as a light in the dark that will come.
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Thanks Nat for your great comment. My feelings of fall are only my memories of it, when I was in the USA. Here in Costa Rica, as you know, we don’t have fall per se, although some trees do lose many of their leaves…So it is from images of the past, and from that I created the Leaf Room on Creation, also sparked from a picture. I love your examples of the “something else again” the leaf can be…Yes a shelter for animals, a blanket for the roots of its tree…so a new generation of its kind, will be born again in spring…Love your phrase too “a bursting bonfire of life” Yes every stage is glorious, every color tells a tale:)
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So ominous, eye opening and profound from my end Ruca. It honestly sent a chill through me! The last to go and finally giving in. The fate for all that lives. Your writing is right there with the best! I would pay a randsome for a hard cover copy of all your poetry.
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Thank you Ruco!! Oops sorry I didn’t send this comment earlier…I am pretty sure you are my biggest and oldest fan:) Your unconditional belief in my poetry has been such a big stimulus for me to keep writing and writing… Hugs Ruco
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Love the poem, and the photo! Thoughtful as well as thought provoking, Kari. Story comes through the imagery, and by your choice of the words you weave. Big blessings, and a big hug~
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Thank you so much Luna..yes like your Autumn painting you posted that sparked a virtual room, this photo sparked a poem..I could feel it shivering in the cold and yet so full of acceptance and purpose..so elegant even at the end.. Big hugss
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