It was a day in October when the cold
Intensity overcame my heart.  The crisp
And bitter wind
Crept over my soul.  And like the leaves,
My love of this fair season
Quickly decayed under the falling rain

Such an earthly smell - the rain.
Such a pleasure was the air - so crisp
When we held hands to warm ourselves from the cold.
And watched the play of color from the falling leaves
In that magical forest.  So beautiful by the season,
But it was all blown away so quickly in the wind.

You came to me with your hair wild in the wind,
And sticking to your clothes were the blood red leaves.
Your hands were so cold,
And you warmed them by the fire.  Your jacket was wet, soaked through with rain.
You said this was decaying, like the leaves.
The leaves blurred in my eyes - vibrant and crisp.  

I convinced you to stay, but your hellos and goodbyes were short and crisp.
You were empty and hollowed by the wind.
Days were endless and overcast with rain,
But I still clung to you, like the wet leaves
To your damp clothes.  Your shoulder was cold,
But I refused to see it was the end of our season.

Like all natural things, colder did turn our season
Until the sharp, crisp
Edges of the cold
Soaked through my soul, like leaves accepted into wet earth.  Blown through me was a wind
Of understanding.  Such brutal, freeing, cold
Understanding.  We were both falling to the earth, gently, as only do leaves.

You took your coat, full of dying leaves,
And stepped out into the rain.
Your hair was whipped around like a wildfire in the wind.
I watched your back, your crisp
Gait.  With calm sadness I accepted the turning of this earth - the changing of the season.
The spring thaw has yet to come, and the memory of our departing still keeps me cold.

We met in that enchanted forest, crisp leaves crunching under our steps,  
And together we warmed ourselves from this cold, beautiful season.
But I realized that you, with your coat, wet from the rain, and your hair, freed by the wind, were but a fleeting moment of beauty that must depart.