Gossamer Web of Potential

Today I found a leaf
on the rain-wet pavement.
It had lain there for a long time.
Cars had come and gone,
Rain and sun had done their work
All that was left now
was a delicate web of veins,
held together by a sturdy stem,
and a faint shimmer
of its original color.

Today I feel like that leaf
embodying the passage of time,
having weathered
the challenges of
sun, storms, and rain
and yet
and yet
I am living
the memory of my greening.