We were a corn field dressed in fall colors;
Each beautiful, vivid, trembling leaf
a glorious indication of the cold end.
We burned our safe green hues at one another.
One last display of Yellow, and Red
and deep, deep, Orange.
All of our secrets clearly visible in the veins
that held our various colors together.
And our eyes never closed
for fear of missing anything.
We gave everything we had
knowing we’d have nothing left to give.
Burnt up, our exteriors became stiff and brittle
as quickly as our now darkened leaves once burned
from innocent green to the hottest of yellows.
The winds blew and we fell
down, down, down to lay
cold on the the earthen floor of winter.