Slow Death

I don't know when it started to happen, but for the first time today, I noticed brown leaves littering the ground. Looking up into the tree, I realized the leaves on the towering oak had begun their slow descent into death. Only last week the tree had a healthy green glow about it, but the cool nights have taken their toll on the little green guys. Then I begin to wonder, do leaves know their death is imminent? Do they make friends with the other leaves they share a branch with, guys with whom they've survived frost and tornado-force winds? What happens when their buddies begin to turn brown and fall from the mothership? Are they too wrought with sorrow to continue living, thus plunging to their own certain death? What of the leaves that survive until November and December? Are they lonely, with a sense of abandonment? Poor leaves...but autumn happens to be my favorite time of year.