Lyric Essay

Leaves

The autumn air picks up the fallen leaves and takes them away.

And it reminds me of you.

The crispness of the air fills my senses and I’m transported,

My eyes close and I can almost see you.

I can almost feel your hand in mine and remember the way things used to be.

I sit beneath the maple as the orange and red surround me like a familiar blanket of what was.

I can’t help but think of you as the sadness washes over me.

The world is changing just as it did on a day just like this one, so many years ago.

Do you remember the feeling? Do you still feel it as you breathe in the air that holds the promise of the colder weather to come?

I listen for the crunch beneath my feet as the branches weave their webs against the blue-grey sky above.

Looking like veins on display for all to see as the season exposes who I really am.

Lost, tired, and sad without you.

The days become shorter as the darkness envelops me and the pull between us becomes stronger.

The sky is painted black as the specks of gold shine through and I wonder if you notice them.

The thin clouds wisp and curl around the moon, holding it in place and never letting it fall.

The bitter fall breeze moves them through the air like the ghosts of our past drifting through the night.

Do you see them too? Do they remind you of me and of all the fall nights we spent gazing up?

And gazing at each other as our shy hands sat intertwined on your lap.

Do you remember what it felt like smelling the hay as we walked in the dark?

The trees moaned as their joints ached in the cold, but you held me close.

I shivered as we made our way down the path, hip to hip as our bodies became one.

Bring me back to that, back to that place.

I’m standing alone as the distant memory floats through the air and over my face.

Am I angry, or am I sad?

I just want you to come home.

Don’t make me wander this place by myself, because although I’m surrounded, it’s not the same.

It won’t be the same until you come home.

Missing you is always harder when the leaves begin to change.