"Autumn-tired" . . .

 

A Leaf Treader 

 "I have been treading on leaves all day until I am autumn-tired.
 God knows all the color and forms of leaves I have trodden on and mired. 

 Perhaps I have put forth too much strength and been too fierce from fear.
 I have safely trodden underfoot the leaves of another year. 

 All summer long they were overhead more lifted up than I;
 To come to their final place in earth they had to pass me by.
 All summer long I thought I heard them threatening under their breath,
 And when they came it seemed with a will to carry me with them to death. 

 They spoke to the fugitive in my heart as if it were leaves to leaf;
 They tapped at my eyelids and touched my lips with an invitation to grief. 

 But it was no reason I had to go because they had to go.
 Now up, my knee, to keep on top of another year of snow."
 -Robert Frost