"dark summer"

The summer was dark;

the sky was filled with thunder

and our lips stained with pomegranates

and yesterday’s broken promises.

We never wanted it to end

and yet somehow, someday,

we fell into a warm autumn

of cinnamon and orange leaves,

of black coffee and smiles after midnight

and finally winter came,

an eclectic combination

of light and dark,

of warm and cold-

the universe closed in

on the bubble we soaked in

as we sipped warm oat milk with peppermint syrup

and ate tomato soup around a glistening fire

and listened the stories of the ones who came before us

and then spring brought floral teas

and cherry perfumes,

it brought the innocence of childhood

that we all craved

but it also brought the reminder

that our time was almost up

so now I sit

in the dark summer again,

amidst apple trees and old journals

as I remember what we could have become.