Listening to Leaves Fall

I'm waiting quietly for her,

half listening for the jingle of dog tags,

mostly listening to the leaves falling to the ground,

I had never noticed how loud the fall is,

how much movement of leaves falling and

crunching against their already fallen compatriots.

the leaves were falling heavily, like hail,

I realized how many leaves there are on a tree

and how quickly they must fall before the 

arrival of winter,

I ponder all this until I hear the jingle

of dog tags and we continue on

our way.