When October Holds You

Autumn arrives where tired hearts have been,

And whispers, You may lay your burdens down.

The leaves release what once they held within,

Yet turn to gold before they touch the ground.

If time were kept inside the face of clocks,

Then October would be the sacred hour —

When all the world grows still between its shocks,

And every wound remembers it has flowers.

I’m glad I live beneath a sky like this,

Where letting go can look so much like grace;

Where every leaf, though falling, learns to kiss

The wind, and finds the courage to embrace.

So if you’re tired, beloved, stay here awhile —

You were not meant to carry all alone.