When the leaves fall; The ache of letting go

As autumn came to claim the leaves from my strands, Its breeze swirled around my bark and branches, A threat, ready to seclude the foliage from my hands. I was too stubborn to release the leaves from my grasp. But my leaves, desperate to escape with the wind away from my distress, So I let them fall, as I promised myself to choose me over strife. Yet my branches bore the pain of emptiness, Where once, the foliage had brimmed with life.