The Lone Leaf With Twin Pools of Light

Once, in a large and beautiful garden on the top of a magnificent hill

far-far away from the exotic Indian Sub-Continent,

there stood a magnificent tree

that had seen many moons,

the ever-changing poetry of the dancing clouds

and way too many rains to remember.


The tree, was truly perfect in symmetry in every way;

proportion of width, height and depth were framed by the heavens

and, when tasted by the eyes,

this tree was compelling

and deeply stirred the senses



This tree;

so lush with its 18 weathered branches sinewy and poetically twisted

each branch;

sensuous, ripe and teeming with multi-pointed leaves

that danced in the wind, kissed the sun and made love with the morning dew


This tree and her ever-changing moods and expressions

generously provided her selfless daily greeting to the man who so deeply cherished  her


This was their daily ritual;

first the man greeted the tree

with his deep smile of appreciation and eyes of gracious light

and then, the tree greeted him back

nodding ever so gently with the leaves of her full bosom




It was always the same

this was their daily ritual


Then one day, the man took a long journey,

and on the orange dawn of his return from India,

there she was (as always) patiently waiting on top of the hill,

in the garden for him,

waiting to show him how her colors had changed

and how she kept hold of the memories of all that transpired in his absence


It was always this way

and the man so loved this tree

as she loved the man




But this one day upon this return from the land of the Gurus and Ashrams was somehow different;

something about this arborous woman that the man loved was unique.



As the man looked closely,

he noticed, that while nearly all her branches were abundant with leaves

upon her 18th uppermost branch,

there was but a single leaf

and the solitude of this leaf called out to the heart of the man.


He began to move closely to study this solitary leaf,

and to explore why it was

that she would find herself alone amongst thousands of her kind so close nearby.


As his eyes moved into intimate view,

he beheld the most unusual sight.



Unlike the other leaves on the tree, this single leaf that stood alone at the top of its solitary branch,

did not have the green scaly skin of a leaf,

but instead,

had skin so tanned, smooth and creamy,

that when the man’s eyes beheld it,

his breath left his lungs.



The man then moved even closer,

and as he did,

he saw two large beautiful brown pools of light in the center of the leaf

that appeared to be the eyes of an exotic woman,

and in these “eyes” he saw wonder, joy and love.




He now drew even closer

and as he did,

he saw sensuality in the leaf’s figure and realized that the mother’s beauty that was the tree,

had become the daughter’s beauty that was the leaf.



And finally, upon the closest of examination,

he saw the leaf’s lips curled,

and in their pursing,

he saw the overpowering smile of self-love.





The man, compelled beyond reason,

by this extraordinary sight,

went to touch this solitary leaf,

and when he did,

the leaf shivered

and yes, the man,

he too shivered


And in this moment,

the man “knew” who the leaf was

as yes,

she also knew who he was