October burns in colours no other month can hold
Leaves crack beneath my boots
Each one a reminder that
Endings can be beautiful
Halloween grins on porches
Plastic fangs and candle flames
A carnival of shadows that feels more honest
Than daylight ever does
I love it for its strangeness
For the way it makes the world admit
That there’s something waiting in the dark
And Samhain
The air shifts
The veil thins
I light candles for the ones I miss
Watch the smoke climb into night
Like a message they might still read
I don’t beg them back
I just say "Thank you"
Or that I still remember them
This month is home
The crunch of leaves
The smell of smoke
A carved pumpkin collapsing into itself
While the flame inside refuses to die
October is where I feel most alive
Orange skies and black nights
My body tuned to the hum of it
I will not let you rush me past it
In favor of tinsel and candy canes
This is my season
My altar of colour
Bone
And flame
My love letter written in cider breath
And the sound of footsteps in the dark
October holds all of it
The grief
The joy
The masks
The monsters
The ancestors
The harvest
The truth that nothing really leaves
It only changes form
And I would live here forever
If the year would let me