ONCE IN AUTUMN

Photo by S. Auberle

for Sallie

I think of you, always, in autumn
that day in the park
when we knelt in the grass
beneath a gingko tree
gathering its delicate fans around us
then tossing them high, laughing
in the golden shower raining down...
we, of many years
we, who thought there'd be many more...
I forget--already you've been gone almost seven

I must love this world twice as much for you...