September’s in my bones,
fueling the innocence I can’t get back.
The autumn breeze chills
the lingering summer’s rays.
I swoop to hold the leaves,
crunching them like I did as a kid.
It’s the month you slipped away
into a death foretold
yet unknown to me.
My heart ached well before
I heard the news through
an obituary in the local paper.
No one told me
you were in heaven’s waiting room.
I’ll remember September
for the love she gave me
on her kitchen table.
It was the wrong thing to do
with the right girl.
I hope you’re not disappointed.
But listen, it happened last September;
the day you died, I was deep inside Hannah.
Proud of me, you never were.
But this time, you’d be.
(© 2022 AC)