A Leaf in Traffic

-Jack Silkaitis

There was a leaf the other day

I saw it flowing in traffic beside my car

I watched it blow through the intersection

I felt time stop as I did so

For an infinite second, it was just us

Me and a leaf in traffic

Me and my destination that seemed irrelevant

Me and its journey that was far more pressing

I wondered as hard as I could about that leaf

Where it might end its perilous journey

Where it might want to see

Where the winds would take it anyway

The leaf didn’t have exams to take

It didn’t have friends to worry about

It didn’t have to plan for its future

It didn’t have to be anything but a leaf blowing in traffic

The leaf was constrained and yet free

Free to experience everything around it

Free to feel nature without exterior pressure

Free to just exist

The leaf didn’t have to fear the oncoming vehicles

Since it wasn’t going to be able to change its fate

Since it could only watch and let nature take its course

Since it must’ve found some peace in that passivity

I felt connected to that leaf in traffic

A kindred spirit drifting through the dangerous world

A lone disconnected piece at a crossroads

A small piece of the world that has to matter nonetheless

I understand fallen leaves are supposed to be dead

But I do not think that is such an easy classification

But I cannot believe life is that easily defined

But I have never seen something more alive

Then time resumed

And the intersection cleared up

And so I left the leaf behind

And I joined the traffic.