I was taking a walk at noon or so, when a leaf fell from a tree a few feet in front of me. Even on the asphalt path, I could see the darker shadow of the descending leaf, and I watched them both.

The leaf as it fell twisted and turned, and lurched this way and that in the breeze, almost  as though it were trying to escape the shadow below it. With each twist and lurch, the shape of the shadow altered, even though the leaf itself did not change shape. When it finally reached the ground and joined the waiting shadow, the shape of the leaf and shape of the shadow matched perfectly under the sun.  

One of these is like life, I thought.

But is it the leaf?

Or the shadow?