Fallen leaves

By Bhuwan Thapaliya

PROMPT — The way I see it ...

Leaning against the trunk

of an ancient pipal tree,

he watched the fallen leaves

twirl and dance in the wind.

They had already died,

yet their dance-filled

the hollow spaces

of his life,

like a fleeting reminder

that even in death,

there was movement,

there was purpose.

Suddenly, it rained—

a soft, steady drizzle

that blurred

the edges of his hope.

He stooped down,

his fingers grazing

the wet earth,

surrounded by the leaves

that had already fallen,

their edges curling,

their colours fading

into the damp floor.

He hesitated,

afraid, the slickness

of the leaves

might betray his step.

A squirrel darted

past his legs,

it’s lonely tail

pattering on the ground,

a brief moment of life

in the stillness of strife.

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Bhuwan Thapaliya is a poet from Kathmandu, Nepal, who writes in English. He works as an economist and is the author of four poetry collections. His poems have been published in Wordcity Literary Journal, Pandemics Literary Journal, Trouvaille Review, Life in Quarantine: Witnessing Global Pandemic Initiative (Witnessing Global Pandemic is an initiative sponsored by the Poetic Media Lab and the Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis at Stanford University), International Human Rights Art Festival, Poetry and Covid: A Project funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, University of Plymouth, Nottingham Trent University, Pandemic Magazine, The Poet, Journal of Expressive Writing, Valient Scribe, Strong Verse, Jerry Jazz Musician, VOICES (Education Project), Longfellow Literary Project, Poets Against the War, among many others.