Garden ghosts flirt with the weeds of spring, cycling matter[s] and lives and deaths.

From Felix Salten's Bambi, chapter on Winter:
"Can it be true," said the first leaf, "can it really be true, that others come to take our places when we're gone and after them still others, and more and more?" "It really is true," whispered the second leaf. "We can't even begin to imagine it, it's beyond our powers." "It makes me very sad," added the first leaf. They were very silent a while."