Be leaf in the beauty of fall

Dear Autumn,

Please don't go. Stay, a little longer. Charm me, once more, with your bold and warm wardrobe of falling leaves. Your reds, and oranges, and golds. With the musky scent of you. With the sound of your voice blowing in the cool night breeze, and crisply rising from beneath my walking feet. With the distant call of migrating birds passing overhead beneath dark skies.

Keep me company while the days grow shorter. Temper the melancholy as I find a sunny spot to watch you fall, while I sip something warm. Put your branches around me as I mourn the fading of the flowers in my garden. Show me, kindly, how time marches on, beauty by its side. Teach me to find comfort in the brevity of your days, even though I want to hold on.

Sweet Autumn, I am grateful for our time together. I savor the moments of beauty spent walking the woodland trails, and your companionship creek side, as the waters flow, artfully clothed in your fallen bits and baubles.

I don't want you to go. I need more time. There's so much more about you I want to know. I want to see. I want to breathe. I want to feel. But I know it's not for us to say. Time marches on. And so do you.  But I will be here waiting for you, come next September.  And the next...🍁