A Love Letter for Autumn
by Melanie Maggard
You rustle me to sleep as tree branches whisper to their fleeing leaves, hold the moon low so I can watch the dark and light hug the hills and valleys. You dress me in wind and change and the promise of something better. Each day, week, and month, I wait for you. Your beginnings start warm, hugging my shoulders until the hairs on my arms blanket me with the belief of eternity. Then, you sing scarlets and ambers while crows leap and swoop, challenging me with their glazed bodies. I moan into your smells, apple navels and fresh molasses, your breath lingering wood smoke upon my lips. But you always grow colder, storming with fear of losing us once more. We never lose our sorrow. Our tears pool in dirt roads, add to the depths of seas and ponds and streams. We’ve danced around the sun for forty-six years. But, eventually, I’ll be gone, leaving a sliver of space in your embrace. So, each time you leave, I wonder if when you return, I’ll be here to smell you, see you, feel you again.
Melanie Maggard is a flash and poetic prose writer who loves dribbles and drabbles. She has published in Cotton Xenomorph, The Dribble Drabble Review, X-R-A-Y Magazine, Five Minute Lit, and others. She can be found online at www.melaniemaggard.com and @WriterMMaggard.