A leaf in a diary

 A leaf that dries between the pages of a diary

tells the story of a lifetime.

A leaf, an archetype, a metaphor that has grown

and kept growing between the pages of a diary

that someone owned.

Blue and green and matt finish,

the ripened wizard that silently reads

and then stores the words in its veins.

A rejuvenizing. A leaf stored between the pages of a diary, ingenuously adds its own words

when the writer encounters a block.

The darkness in the pause does not scare the leaf;

it has gone through it all in some other life time.

It's lying happily wrapped up between the pages

of someone's diary, breathing, reading the pages adding, filling in, cascading sometimes the storms it has seen, interrupting the flow and trembling with a thoughtful concern for the gentle pages

of the diary grown old, blessing the writer's days and nights.

Sushama Karnik.

The credit for the image goes to my artist friend Lise Wal from MeWe.