I return to you and you are dying again
Golden leaves gloriously reflecting the brilliant sun
Anxiety-ridden
For a week or two you will be dead-on-the-ground
A darkening browny rust trodden leaf

Ve-emunascha baleilot
I hereby promise to wait for you
Once again
Another year
Or at least the winter
I believe in your eternal return
That you will grow anew.
It is the same you
A genetic promise
This tree same shape same color.

So I will wait out the winter ahead
Watch this tree
Naked in the snow
Brown and bereft
And remember these few days
Of golden sunlit rustling
When we were together
And I blessed you

I promise to witness your dying
And your birth in the spring
A greenhorn
You will not recognize me
We will need to get re-acquainted
No matter
I look forward to it
And then next year as you take your leave once more
You too will realize
It was all about waiting and faith
And hope and promise.