"Changing of the Seasons"

Accidental glances

Unspoken words

Lingering curiosity

Who will act first?

Comfortable silence

in the midst of stormy days,

dark mornings, cold evenings

pushed me to be more brave

Yet the sting of rejection hurt

like a fatal wound, though expected

If we could still be friends, though,

that’s fine, would you accept it?

Pretend is what I’m good at

Let’s move past it, I’ll be okay

So in the months that followed,

I told myself to stay

When the hour to say goodbye

had finally come in the heat of June,

We sat and spoke of futures unknown,

yet I couldn’t ask too soon:

You say you hope we’ll meet again

and that I meant something to you

But will your sentiments remain the same

In a month? A year or two?

Should I have tried a little harder to let you

know just how much I liked you?

Distress held me in your absence

Nothing and no one could soothe

the overwhelming rush of sadness

that left me unsubdued

But I shouldn’t have forgotten

the healing power of time

And day by day, I found the courage

to stop searching for a sign

Because for so long, I had loved you

You were charming, you were kind

You were handsome, you were thoughtful,

I believed, “right person, wrong time.”

For so long, your memory persisted,

appearing in every book

and every film and every song

that made me feel understood

The scent of cinnamon apples,

Extinguished evening candles,

Endless rainy showers,

Checking my phone at every hour,

Cheers of sports fanatics,

Stoplights that didn’t work as once intended

The corner house on Main Street,

The bus seat next to mine

Writing unsent letters,

praying you were never

with a girl you’d call your soulmate

while I pledged, for you, I would wait.

These were the things that brought me back to you.

But another summer has faded,

and another fall begins.

Green transforms to hues of red and orange-yellow blends.

Though I’ll try not to forget your voice and the

way your eyes had shone,

perhaps it’s for the better that

you left me all alone.

I’ll keep your memory close to my heart,

just not with the same love I used to hold.

With this changing of the seasons,

will you let me move on and grow?