The speaker watches leaves lying on the pavement, where everyone walks over them. These same leaves once had an easy life high in the trees, with the breeze lingering around them like a companion. They were charming and lighthearted, fluttering up and down, dancing in the sunny air and never imagining that a gutter was waiting for them in the town below. Now they have fallen and have no real place. The only home they can find is a gutter beside a wall. The wind that once played with them has turned predatory—an “apache of a wind,” a rough street-thug of a wind that seems to lie in wait for their fall. The mood is tender and melancholy, full of pity for anything that loses its bright place so completely.
When the Leaves Fall — Summary
When the leaves fall off the trees Everybody walks on them : Once they had a time of ease High above, and every breeze Used to stay and talk to them.
Then they were so debonair As they fluttered up and down ; Dancing in the sunny air, Dancing without knowing there Was a gutter in the town.
Now they have no place at all ! All the home that they can find Is a gutter by a wall. And the wind that waits their fall Is an apache of a wind.