POETRY I FALL I LOSS
My Autumn Ballerina
DEP Fall Contest

There’s a stillness in the trees, erupting with scarlet and marigold, that wasn’t here in June. The wind no longer invigorates, but lulls, whispering a song of cold and sleep.
Can you hear her?
The sweet lullaby of Autumn, a being of mist and leaves and fire, lulling the forest to sleep with a whoosh and a sigh.
My enchanting mistress, my lady of slow goodbyes.
Autumn isn’t death, but a dance. She dresses in rich red, sunburst orange, vibrant yellow. The earth exhales a cool breeze, slowing its heartbeat in time to her footsteps as she leaps and twirls and sings her haunting melody.
Her voice weaves a song of yesterday and what-used-to-be.
Delicate leaves shake free from a willow’s lazy arms, twirled upon the wind like a thousand tiny dancers. Autumn kicks her bare foot into the air, starting a flameless bonfire across the treetops. Each leaf a new shade for her dress, the wind a somber chill to match her melancholy.
Her lullaby calls to me at night, a song of fire and change.
My lovely ballerina, fire made song, she sweeps her train across the ground to a tune only she can hear, her heartbeat ever slowing, stealing life with a pirouette and a tombé.
Is it strange to say I love her, this mistress of death and dying?
You taught me my love is only sleeping, a slumber deep and sure, beyond my grasp but not beyond my dreams, where our souls can meet, dancing in time to your solemn lullaby.






