Including You<\/p>\n
By<\/p>\n
Jennifer Angelina Petro<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Now that autumn is in full gear<\/p>\n
And the air fills the lungs with letting go breaths,<\/p>\n
The time has come once again<\/p>\n
When the slant of light catches you off guard<\/p>\n
And you find yourself weeping<\/p>\n
Watching the precipitation from the trees<\/p>\n
Vesturing the ground with red and gold.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There is nothing you can do.<\/p>\n
The allegory of the leaves and change<\/p>\n
Has been around as long as trees themselves.<\/p>\n
You cannot get around letting go.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And there are times letting go turns<\/p>\n
Into a flood of things sailing away<\/p>\n
Just beyond your reach into a day full of cidered light–<\/p>\n
And you can only watch, or try<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
To look away, nevertheless parts of your life<\/p>\n
Will be draped on the ground like so many<\/p>\n
Torn shards of shifts and shirts<\/p>\n
And they will be there waiting for you<\/p>\n
To witness their being caught down in unavoidable winds<\/p>\n
And you will be left with either becoming<\/p>\n
Hard, like a tree whose blood slows to frozen,<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Or ebullient like a flower girl at a wedding, tossing<\/p>\n
Rose petals along the aisle where death<\/p>\n
Sits on one side and life on the other,<\/p>\n
And your processional of letting go distracts everyone<\/p>\n
Momentarily from the marriage about to happen<\/p>\n
That will leave everyone, including you,<\/p>\n
Searching frantically inside<\/p>\n
For the one they used to love.<\/p>\n
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