A stem that barely shows in the spring
\nBy summer becomes a fully formed leaf
\nThat dances to the gusts of early fall
\nUntil breaking free it escapes with the wind.<\/p>\n
Then it cavorts like a brazen butterfly
\nUntil tumbling onto the cold dry ground
\nWhere it breaks apart to nourish the trees
\nThat will grow new leaves for the coming of spring.<\/p>\n
The old man totters on his cane
\nWhile pondering his life and tightening his scarf
\nHe steps unsure, as he crushes underfoot
\nThe last spring\u2019s plenty into next spring\u2019s hope.<\/p>\n
Reminding himself that \u201cwinter\u2019s approaching
\nAnd I\u2019ll need to stay warm to see the spring,\u201d
\nHe has only his cane and scarf to bring
\nHis final flight to a graceful ending.<\/p>\n
The footprints he makes in fallen leaves
\nWill not remain but be swept away
\nAlong with his past and spoken words
\nExcept for what he wrote in truth.<\/p>\n
There are roots that feed on truth – he knew –
\nHis life had shown what might come forth
\nFor whatever lies underfoot will sprout and renew
\nFor all awaken to light and warmth.<\/p>\n
10\/17\/2016, AJD\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A stem that barely shows in the spring By summer becomes a fully formed leaf That dances to the gusts of early fall Until breaking free it escapes with the wind. Then it cavorts like a brazen butterfly Until tumbling onto the cold dry ground Where it breaks apart to nourish the trees That will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humaninterests"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3UqUK-9A","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":595,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions\/595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}