Reflections Amidst Autumn.

I'd forgotten
how difficult it is to slither the spatula under their golden, crisp bodies
separating transformed dough from it's metal furnace
like pulling up a stubborn weed
that breaks off in bits
unless you tug it just right.
And oh I'd forgotten the gentle melt
and sugary smooth
of satisfying crumb and frost
 on my tongue
after decorating
zombie cookies.

I'd remembered
what the crunch of leaves sounds like
but I'd forgotten how their heaps preserve the rotted ones beneath
an earthy stench enveloping the unkempt walks
but nevermind that--
because the leaves, they're strewing them with brilliant color
all the while.
I don't think I ever took the time to know
what it feels like to sense a leaf nest in my hair
after tumbling.
How it cracks and breaks up when you try to slide it out
and it takes a minute to find all the pieces
and tug them off the locks.
I didn't know because before, I skirted outside walks
after frost first snapped the grass blades
and outside was as unfavorable as meatloaf.

I'd believed
I'd believed so long ago
that fall was a death time, a crumbling time, a time for browning and chill
a time we passed through just to get to Christmas.
Funny how one person, one blue eyed person
can make the orange and the red and the yellow and the brown
become a backdrop that glows
with memory
for the falling, falling, falling
of leaves and love
four years ago
and now each autumn
I take more time
to taste the sweets, to munch the harvest fruits, to walk the burning walks...
because autumn's not a death time--it's a life time, a beginning time, a falling
falling
falling
in love
time.