Leaves

LEAVES My mind wanders, as I sit at my cluttered desk, trying desperately to contact our clients. Working from home during the Covid-19 Lock down, is a challenge with no staff. I imagine myself sitting in a field of abundant green grass with cosmos flowers surrounding me. The old oak tree has lost some of it’s leaves, we are half way into Autumn. I see a bird’s nest not too far out of reach, but I am not quite tall enough to peep in. I hear tiny chirps, hungry fledglings awaiting their mothers return. A winding but strong stream, trickles beside me and I am mesmerised by the sound. It makes me sleepy, but my golden retriever Plato keeps barking at me to throw a stick into the stream. I lazily pat him and lay down on the grass. A fresh Easterly breeze is blowing gently caressing me, and rustling the leaves in this old oak tree that could tell me more than a lifetime of stories. A leaf falls into the trickling stream, and I hear the water running swifter. I suddenly see a fast flowing river that leads to rocks and rapids, but I still see the leaf flowing and churning and dipping and diving. I am so engrossed in its misfortune flowing towards a waterfall, that I become the leaf, and the waterfall roars as I drift closer to its thunder. I no longer feel peaceful as I struggle to not fall over the edge – but I am a tiny leaf in a vast world. The phone rings, and confused, still in my daydream, I reach to answer it. As I say Hello?’ the headline “Latest Covid-19 news” scrolls across the TV above my desk. Reality takes over, we must survive!