We Have A Choice

My friends and I just hung around
in places one might find profound
on maples, oaks and other trees
because, you see, we were mere leaves.

The autumn winds, oh how they blew.
They made us dance and wiggle too.
Deception's lie rode in the wind
had made us 'want' and we had sinned.

The bees were buzzing in their hive.
It wasn't fair they were alive.
It wasn't fair that we weren't free
for we were stuck on this ol' tree.

But then my friends had found, one day,
just how to ride a special way.
They laughed and giggled by and by
upon the wind. How they could fly!

So gaily and so selfishly,
they joked around so carelessly.
Exciting times, it seemed they had.
They thought it funny they were bad.

My friends had left me one by one,
but wicked winds are never done.
"Come join the party we will throw."
They taunted me and screamed, "Let go!"

The windy, frigid swirling air
had tortured me. It didn't care.
Except for me, the tree was bare
and I was so alone up there.

Oh yes, temptation had its grip -
but I held on despite the whip
of winds that howled around the limbs.
For I had faith and gospel hymns.

I prayed and prayed to God above,
for He had shown me so much love.
My friends had fallen, didn't know
they now were buried under snow.

The moral of the story here?
Don't be deceived by friend or peer.
Just listen to God's still, small voice.
He gave His Son. We have a choice.

This poem won first place for the October 2014 poetry contest