ruffled leaves

it was quiet, and empty. it did feel really empty and he was all alone. it was evening , and hardly anything moved in this street. the trees were just turning green, and the leaves were strewn in no apparent order. the sun was almost setting , it was warm and he walked aimlessly.
he stopped and looked ahead , he could hardly see anything. he realized he actually did not know where he was going. he looked back, and those brown leaves. the color had faded, it was the leaves from the past. but they looked so beautiful. and they were beautiful adding color and life to the trees. but now it was all history. everytime he looked at them, he felt different. he felt something was missing, probably missing. but was he sure ?
or was it the green leaves that lay in front of him. waiting to be picked up, waiting to be shown some human empathy, a tender touch. could that be troubling his wandering mind right now. the leaves were ahead, in the future and a new experience to unfold. the joy of discovering , the joy of the unkown but that left him a little trembling. but he knew the future would be the past, the green leaves will soon turn into brown. yes he knew he could only pick this green leaf and hold it for sometime, he had to drop it eventually. however he knew the green leaf wanted to be kept forever. was the conflict causing so much trouble. he did want to pick it up, tempting but he knew it could burn his fingers... the sun was shining brightly. how long could he stand there , he had to walk past this green leaf or pick it up.