Spring maple leaves
emerge like butterflies,
breaking free
from delicate, petite,
chrysalis flowers,
of crimson and gold
as lovely as maple leaves
in summer and autumn.

Down flowers fall
aided by wind
creating a circle,
a red blanket
on the ground
underneath
the maple tree.

Like snow,
these soft, dry
flowers soon melt
into the earth,
as will the leaves
in autumn.
This metamorphosis
has me thinking,
that everything,
everything,
is like snow.