Poetry in Motion (on the NYC Subway)

After a long trip from Philadelphia to New York yesterday, I rode the 1/9 on the way to Columbia. Routinely, I read the various ads displayed in the subway car. One of the ads I saw was part of the "Poetry in Motion" series, which are poems printed by the MTA, interspersed with regular ads in subway cars. I always enjoy reading these poems, but the one I read yesterday was particularly thought provoking. I've written it below for you to enjoy and be provoked thoughtfully!


A Leaf
By Maj Bronislaw

A leaf, one of the last, parts from a maple branch:
it is spinning in the transparent air of October, falls
on a heap of others, stops, fades. No one
admired its entrancing struggle with the wind,
followed its flight, no one will distinguish it now
as it lies among other leaves, no one saw
what I did. I am
the only one.