Once In Autumn........

Once in Autumn.......

Nekiah hand-stitched

every single leaf

to make Tree Spirit

costumes

for you and

your friend, 

Isaac Blue Sky.

How could we know

back then

just how precious

were those fleeting

days of grace?

Just how fast

it all was

flying by?

First, you grew.

Before I knew it,

before I was ready,

you were

out of the nest

and away,

living all

of your heartbreaks

and hard times,

so young and heedless

and rash,

my hair slowly

turning

the color

of silvery ash.

Nekiah is gone.

It was cancer.

And Isaac Blue Sky's

life has been

fractured.

Those innocent faces

up there,

those round

trusting eyes

that enraptured,

those smiles

that had not yet

known pain........

remind me

that

once,

once in autumn,

we all lived

precious days

that will

not,

will not ever

come

again.