An Ode To Mortality And To ‘The Last Leaf On The Tree’

A Brief Commentary, with a little melancholy, by Niagara At Large reporter/publisher Doug Draper

Posted December 1st,  2025 on Niagara At Large

“I’m the last leaf on the tree
The autumn took the rest
But it won’t take me
I’m the last leaf on the tree

“When the autumn wind blows
They’re already gone
They flutter to the ground
They just can’t hang on”
– lyrics from a recent song by legendary singer/songwriter Willie Nelson called ‘The Leaf’ 

One of the very last leafs clinglng to one of the trees in my yard. photo by Doug Draper

As beautiful as the  colours of Fall can be, I have always looked forward to  Spring and Summer when everything comes to life and, for at least a few months, leaves me with feelings of immortality.

When the colour of the leaves and plants around me change to brown and begin to fall to the ground, my thoughts sometimes  turn to all of the relatives and friends I know who have passed on and like Willie Nelson, who is now 92 and has seen his share of people he knows fall away, I resolve to be that last leaf on the tree that hangs on.

When I hear Willie’s song about that last leaf, I can’t help but think of some of my favourite artistic performers who have passed away over the past number of months – artists like Beach Boys legend Brian Wilson, film actor and film maker Robert Redford and actress Diane Keaton who always seems so forever young to me.

I also think of my old friends and acquaintances  like  Niagara Regional Chair and former St. Catharines MPP and Ontario Environment Minister extraordinaire Jim Bradley, like Stan Sadava, one of my favourite psychology professors and mentors at Brock University,  like Robert (‘Bob’) Livesey, one of my all-time favourite teachers who was such an inspiration for learning (like the teacher Robin Williams played in the movie Dead Poet’s Society)  back at Centennial High School in Welland, , like Wayne Stortz, a member of my old childhood gang back in the then vibrant neighbourhood, surrounded by fields and forests, I was fortunate to grow up in on Willson Road in Welland, and like  former journalism colleaguesand community activists  Linda Crabtree and Willy Noiles, and likes too many others who have fallen from that tree of life over the past number of months.

I am sure that at least some of you share the same thoughts I do during the Fall of the year  and for those of you who do, here is Willie Nelson’s song which was recorded only a year or so ago. You can hear it – Willie’s withering voice and all – by clicking on the screen immediately below –

• May you live to be the last leaf on the tree, Doug Draper, Niagara At Large

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