The nostalgia you bring swirls and wraps around me,
knitting itself into a sweater to keep me warm.
A sweater that smells like a person I keep
tucked inside the bed sheets of a memory.

Autumn, your winds whisper, “remember when”,
beginning to tell a tale I know all too well;
of sticky sweet summers and spending most days
watching sunsets that remind me that there is an end to
every day,
every summer,
every story.

The type of nostalgia you bring isn’t a longing for the past
but more of a longing for a person I used to know
seasons ago,
for a person whose love never made it
to fallen leaves and naked trees.

The kind of nostalgia you bring makes me
remember memories that never happened.
We used to talk about watching the leaves change color
like we were reminiscing but we were just anticipating
something that could never happen.
Somewhere in August, we ran out of false memories
to enhance our game of make believe.

The nostalgia Autumn brings wraps its arms around me,
sways me from side to side,
sings me a song I have never heard before
but I already know all the lyrics to
and makes me believe we were in love.
I don’t mind pretending just a little bit longer
Just so I can fool myself into the next season.