decayed tree; rotted tree; decayed wood; obscure, meaningless life (metaphor)
decayed leaves; russet; tawny; yellow-brown
russet; tawny; yellow-brown
to rot away; to crumble to dust; to decay completely; to die in obscurity
reddish-yellow (colour); russet
once bitten twice shy; to become over cautious from a bad experience; (lit.) to be bitten by a snake and thus fear a rotten rope (which resembles a snake)