Grün Magazine

I did not mean to ignore the dawn of Fall or its promise

      Regret, cascading around me in perfectly raked piles           

      Her freckles fading with the warmth of the sun

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I did not want to let today’s leaves go
      But as always, my yesterday would take them from me tomorrow                           Every year, trudging through them as they begin to freeze with the mud

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I did not plan to chase summer, but yet the chase began

      Filling its place, a cutting wind to whisk the vernal away

      Bringing with it temperatures just as wavering

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I did not care to witness the empathy of the forest
      Until five seasons later when the ever-green needles
      Taught me coniferous and unconditional were just the same

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I did not journey out

      To be stripped of color by bitter mornings and their frost

      I never contemplated letting go with the gumball trees

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I did not decide to return to this place of expiry
      But rather let its requiem lull me into early nights
      Where street lights glistened off the snow-covered asphalt and pines

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I did not intend to appreciate earth’s revolution
      But feeling the solstice assert itself over her
      And the blizzard of ambivalence that silenced the haunting crunch of leaves

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I did not forget to thank it