The Seasons of Us

when winter comes and skeletons of trees stand starkly upon the snow i will think of you and your head on my lap before the fireplace skating on the gaunt, deep pond where we made love on brighter days hot chocolate and fired brandies and standing at windows while flurries fell when it is spring again and trees bear promises as islands of snow die slowly in their shadows i will think of you when all was alive again and you believed in us within the world of nest-making and streams going home making bouquets of foothill flowers constantly profaning the word “forever” and imagining that winter was forever gone when summer is upon me with sweltering wrath i will come to the forest where we walked and i will think of you where we were prone beneath the well dressed limbs in a canopy above us, fitted into one another like lovers by the quarry lake where you were covered in beads of water and the sun loved you and glistened upon your body where i looked at you as one would view sunsets or miracles autumn will come with all its dark omens and i will walk upon the crisp leaves made spectacular by death and i will think of you where the earth wore its gaudy colors while ours had faded into the murky hues of uneasiness and fear and soon the trees will awaken alone and naked to the world and i will understand their plight in a box called home where once laughter lived and life was wonderful there was a time before seasons and sentiment when small, gentle hands covered my eyes with giggles and you gasped, “oh, i’m sorry! i thought you were someone else!” i smiled then and replied, “i am.” it was the spring of us that led into the caldron of summer passion before time and treasons took their toll before reality and reason tore the glitter from our eyes and our autumn came that condemned us to our winter