The tree's knarled, melted bark dripped down the warm, burnt umber in its spokes, dropping mellowed honey as we climbed the branches. We spoke of sweet things like the kind frosts creeping into the valleys of misted bloom, as the silver crescents rise higher by day, entangled by wreathes of smoke. We spoke of that very oak tree and how it's palsied trunk had witnesses so many fires. We spoke of love and how (despite the cliche) we can not live without each other. We together will beat on through the charms of the cold thistle. We dance round the dusky colonnades as the stars shatter around us and the moon's cancerous head rides higher.