Leaf Quotes

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
—William Shakespeare

And he shall be like a tree

planted by the rivers of water,
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;
his leaf also shall not wither;
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
—Psalm of David

To Die
I wish to leave the world
By its natural door;
In my tomb of green leaves
They are to carry me to die.
Do not put me in the dark
To die like a traitor;
I am good, and like a good thing
I will die with my face to the sun.
—Jose Marti

What we take to be our strongest tower of delight,
only stands at the caprice of the minutest event—
the falling of a leaf, the hearing of a voice, or the receipt
of one little bit of paper scratched over with a few small
characters by a sharpened feather.
—Herman Melville

Can You Call the Fall? (A Tree Poem)

Y'all know our tree outside Bruce's wall—

it ain't very tall, but it sure ain't small.

It's a swell little tree—makes a nice little dell—

but when fall season fells, it's confusing as cell

biology. See this tree's fall's under spell.

But a story I'll tell, all your fears I will quell.

T'ain't worth a yell, it's simply that . . . well

its leaves just gel—they all stay put, come squall or squell.

They're in for the long-haul, they're really swell,

they've got a goal, they're on the ball.

Though other trees fall, this one stalls

until finally one day its soul it will sell

and like Saul becoming Paul it will change on the bell—

after one leaf has fell, the rest fall pell-mell.

So y'all, can ya' foretell, can ya' smell, can ya' call the fall?