I love the season between fall and winter

i love the season between fall and winter

when the trees are bare and the beauty, lost

when the colors of autumn are frozen over

and the mountains sigh as they’re blanketed in frost

i love the sky that is grey with forewarning

and lakes in limbo as they fight being congealed

birds flying south to avoid starvation

while we cling to holidays so we know how to feel

i love the sun that grows weaker and weaker

how the tilt of our planet makes it reluctantly yield

as the days become shorter and night quietly takes over

and darkness opens wounds that are not quite healed

i love the deep breath the earth takes before succumbing

like a child being taught how to swim in the deep

as year after year we learn the same lesson

that all living things must eventually sleep.