My summer love
is no longer evergreen

I overlooked her shine
mellow.
as I rested under her autumn leaves
And oh what rest she gave!

But her.
I forgot her branches bore the abuse
of my rest.
The torment of the gusting northern
winds.
She always started down from the tree
Smiling at me.
and I, the fool,
too much an imbecile to see her pains,
closed my eyes during our embrace.

There she is now.
Bare and stripped of her leaves.
I pick up her brown remnants
off the soil and try to stitch them
back to her.
But she no longer accepts it.
The hair which adorned her she must
shed
so next summer,
she may shelter someone else anew.

My summer love
she is no longer evergreen.
Rather, she was most beautiful before she left me.