Dates Of Autumn -

The second date comes with a clatter of dry leaves skating down the asphalt. You wear a sweater you forgot you owned, and the light tilts sideways after three o’clock.

So you turn your collar up. You walk inside. You leave the door unlocked for the winter because you know now: every ending is just a dark room where the next beginning is waiting to be lit. dates of autumn

The first date arrives shyly, a whisper at dawn— the air holds its breath, then exhales a cool promise. A single maple, embarrassed by attention, tips one branch into gold. The second date comes with a clatter of