What is the sound of the last leaves of Fall,
as they descend at October dusk?
Do you know the sound of a screendoor slamming,
when a child is leaving home for the day?

What was the parting like?

Do you know the taste of summer's first lemonade
bitter and sweet and sublime
Do you know the taste of fresh bread
baked by the hands of one you love?
Do you know the taste of woodsmoke on a day so cold
that the grey trail heads down,
not up?

What was the parting like?

sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled.

_{for oenone, for Christmas}