Ginkgo, cottonwood, pin oak, sweet gum, tulip tree: br our emotions resemble leaves and alive br to their shapes we are nourished. br br Have you felt the expanse and contours of grief br along the edges of a big Norway maple? br Have you winced at the orange flare br br searing the curves of a curling dogwood? br I have seen from the air logged islands, br each with a network of branching gravel roads, br br and felt a moment of pure anger, aspen gold. br I have seen sandhill cranes moving in an open field, br a single white whooping crane in the flock. br br And I have traveled along the contours br of leaves that have no name. Here br where the air is wet and the light is cool, br br I feel what others are thinking and do not speak, br I know pleasure in the veins of a sugar maple, br I am living at the edge of a new leaf.