When September lies across the fields like broken wheat

I'll think of you

And in the colors of the changing leaves I'll see your cascade of russet hair

Foggy mornings bring to mind your cool, pale eyes

and remind me that I'd rather be in bed

with you

As the sun comes up I'll recall your dazzling smile

and the warmth that you bestowed upon me

I will take walks in the woods all alone,

wishing you were with me

hoping you'll be there with kisses and cider when I get home

I'll hear the lonely call of some solitary bird,

but not its mate

And I'll know the winter will come and I'll be cold without you

Hibernating in my grief, pained and comforted by your surreal visits

Waking each time as though I have lost you anew....

By the time October rises, the trees around me will be bare skeletons

And the longer nights will bring to mind a darker mood

There will be no joy in chocolate, nor warm spices

No way to mask the pain I'll feel within

And I can bury you, but never my own feelings

which will linger in the shadows of my mind,

startling me with the intensity of their being—

a fleeting phantom of the woman I once loved.