One Leaf at a Time

[Verse 1] You set the tripod by the cedar roots Check the light against your palm A copper leaf turns slowly on its stem While the whole slope holds its calm You wait until the breeze lets go And the branches settle down Then frame the path where amber, rust, and gold Have gathered on the ground [Pre-Chorus] You don’t ask the season to stay You let it show you how to change [Chorus] Look how the hillside learns a new color One leaf at a time, then the whole world turns You catch that moment when green lets go And every small ending has somewhere to grow You lower the camera, let the quiet come through Autumn keeps changing, and so do you [Verse 2] A red maple marks the bend in the trail Like a sign no one put there The creek carries a few bright fragments past And lays them somewhere else to wear You note the hour, the lens, the shade The pattern made by light But some things never fit inside a frame No matter how you get it right [Pre-Chorus] You don’t ask the season to stay You let it show you how to change [Chorus] Look how the hillside learns a new color One leaf at a time, then the whole world turns You catch that moment when green lets go And every small ending has somewhere to grow You lower the camera, let the quiet come through Autumn keeps changing, and so do you [Bridge] When the last bright canopy thins And the bare limbs sketch the sky You’ll remember how the forest gave Its color up without asking why [Final chorus] Look how the hillside learns a new color One leaf at a time, then the whole world turns You caught that moment when green let go And every small ending had somewhere to grow You lower the camera, let the quiet come through Autumn keeps changing, and so do you [Outro] One leaf at a time The whole world turns