The Last Leaf

I truly love the colours of the autumn leaves. I felt quite sad to see all those beautiful red and orange leaves fall on the ground. It didn't help that the last few days of autumn were dampened by the rain. It was bad enough that the leaves got detached from the branches. But all that rain meant more leaves would fall from the trees then all these fallen leaves would get wet and often end up pasted on the ground.

Back in the Philippines, yes, the leaves would fall, but there always seemed to be more than enough leaves to go around. The trees were almost always green. I cannot really recall seeing a tree lose all its leaves.

The closest thing to experiencing "fall" I can think of would be walking along narra tree lined sidewalk of Ayala Avenue. There would be times when the trees were filled with fragrant yellow flowers. Then soon after, these flowers would be scattered all about on the ground along with the leaves. If you happened to be walking along the street at that time, you could end up walking through a shower of leaves and flowers.

We also have a narra tree in the backyard at Cebu Avenue. I remember Father pointing out that particular tree beside the pelota courtwhen it had regained its foliage. I think he had taken a picture of the tree when the branches were kind of bare and was planning on taking another at that time when the leaves had returned. But somehow the tree never seemed to be stripped of ALL of its leaves.

GI has fond memories of narra trees as well. There were narra trees inside the campus of Don Bosco Makati before they were cut down to make way for the Savio Dome. There is often a hint of sadness when he mentions those trees even if their removal paved the way for a huge covered area within the school campus.

Enough of memory lane for the moment and back to the present... I left the house and headed for the city, I couldn't help but notice that so many of the trees along the way had shed all their leaves. The only consolation was that the knowledge that winter was but a season and soon it will be spring. New life would spring forth and the branches would once again be filled with leaves.

The truth is, when I saw these trees stripped of all their leaves, I couldn't help but feel that the insides of the trees were exposed. It made me think of the sacrament of confession. You know how at the confessional, you bare it all and your essence is brought out in the open. There is a mix of emotions which hinges on sadness and remorse. However after a good confession, there is joy and peace and hope. The YOU which had shed all your layers of sin and falsehood, will soon have a fresh start whereby a new YOU, a better YOU, a happier and more beautiful YOU can emerge; just like the winter trees that have only their branches to show today but as summer arrives these branches will surely be covered by so many new leaves you would hardly recognise the skeleton of a tree that it once was.

I do so look forward to spring.