Last Leaf
There was a little tree
it grew alone
it grew proud
"I need no one!
I will plant my deep roots here
cover myself in the thickest bark
and reach to the sky
for there is greatness in me!"
And so he grew.
And then other trees planted their roots near it
And those trees shared messages between their roots
chemical messages
which helped them grow bigger, faster, and taller.
Until the day came that their canopies rose above the canopy of our prideful tree
and overshadowed it
depriving it of sunlight
until it began to lose its leaves
suffocating in the shadow of the giants above it
it refused help from trees of his kin
it refused to set seed
"I will grow!" it insisted
"I will rise to my greatness!"
and then it fell silent
when its last leaf
proud to the end
fluttered to the forest floor
to feed the trees that supplanted it
