What you love you must love now
lest autumn with speckles of orange, red and brown is blown away
it becomes a song,
every decade or so time allows a pomegranate blush to suffuse the skin
it serves as a hymn for the greatest generation
its slightest touch has most readily at times unlocked my heart
and dauntless
I would have held on if I had known it was the last
I have spent many an evening staring at leaves falling from trees
green at first
and then shortly afterwards with a gentle caress of yellow
I wish to be close to you,
so that the moment they come to rest on the ground
I can toss them high with your hand in mine
perhaps they will make the most of it the second time round.
Remember me as a time of the day
take down photographs taken over passage of years and smile
as we age onward,
I wish to kiss you with breath perfumed with the vigor of rose
when the darkening sky is filled with remorseless clouds
I have learned that hope is just a tiny flicker against the wind
and that we are born different for a reason,
gift me the power of your intense fragility
the strength to overcome constant vacillation around decisions that bind
the eternal struggle
between heart and mind,
I am whispers of ache strewn across flower petals —
what you love you must love now.

 

Photo credits: Underwater Photography by Marta Bevacqua, pinterest

A combined response to Guest appearance from Kenia Santos and Sunday Mini-Challenge ~ Love after Love by Kim Nelson.

Posted for Play It Again (Old Toads) @ Real Toads

and posted for the Poetry Pantry @ Poets United