Snow On the Leaves

Where have the children gone,
Green children trapped in youth?
All is silent here,
Sound grows faint.

Jade trees surround above,
Preserved in one eternal spring.
All is silent here,
Echoes of gold.

Trees grasp abandoned nests
That once held the forest birds.
Painted patterns grace the walls,
Memoirs of an elder time.

Where has the flute-song gone,
Playing songs that now are lost?
Dust falls upon the shelves,
Ocarinas long untouched.

Where has the springtime gone,
Now that children long have left?
Springtime stays and longs to go
To where the children disappeared.

Echoing the mountains high,
Skies turn a whitened gray,
Casting white upon the green,
Snow on the leaves.