King of Leaves

Walking to class today I noticed that there are a couple trees with just a few leaves still hanging on to its stark branches and wondered, are these the "King" leaves of the tree?  Are these leaves looked at as the strongest and most powerful leaves on the tree?  Do other leaves talk about strong leaves in the past that have been able to hold onto their branch for a month or two following the second to last leaf that has fallen?  I can picture the leaves laying on the ground looking up at those that are still sucking up nutrients from the soil and wishing they could be there.  

Inevitably there are a couple leaves that last a good while longer than the rest, but is this a blassing or a curse?  Are they suffering from watching their neighbors decend to the ground below them, watching them deteriorate and waste away while they are connected to the larger lifeform that created them?  These lonely leaves could very well want to join their siblings and friends in the ground but the greater power of the tree does not want to let them go.

It is hard to tell which scenario is most accurate, and if applying this to the human lifecourse this becomes even more ambiguous...which is why I brought it up.