Like cold air settling in, settling on, stealing away

each remnant of summer’s warmth,

realization of divergent paths awakened in waves

faster than the swift water that tumbled over

the stones we laid in the stream by our house



Chilled as we were, we stacked each log on that fire,

trying to stoke hidden embers buried in mountains of cooled ash

Smoke signaled our demise, blue on blue swirls of second chances,

as the rising water cut its own path

in the crumbling bank in the stream by our house



Powerless against the winter winds that blew,

we gathered in broken circles as each night grew longer

Deep breaths released ghosted apparitions

that danced in the deluge that was disappointment

and a once tranquil stream became a raging river

laying claim to the house that was once a home



photo: mine



prompts: WydleVerse 83, Written River 500, AsymLife 288, 289, 290, 293