When first we met, the winds were brisk
almost bone chilling
The harsh breeze cut loose the leaves
from boughs with one foot in the grave

You weren’t one for first impressions.
You were brash
You nipped my hands
and mocked my trembling
like a parrot

I hated your foliage
It was colored in drab hues
browns, reds, oranges and pale yellows
and I was painted with that same brush
I could have blended in
with my sallow skin
and flimsy flesh

I tried to pretend you didn’t exist
I didn’t wear a cotton scarf
I didn’t wear wooly boots
I didn’t wear a button-up-coat
and I paid no heed to the missing sun

I let your cold arms coil around me
like the serpent you were
and I sunk my teeth into forbidden fruit

I tasted the acrid nectar
and I waited
for it to poison my thoughts
but it didn’t

And soon I heard the ringing of your leaves
I scuffled at first
then swayed in time to your bells
humming their diaphanous chime
and I hung bells from my neck
so you could sway to mine

I saw everything rupturing with its last beauty
and then I knew why they called you “Fall”
Because while everything was falling,
I had fallen
for you