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An Early Fall this Year

And with its changes comes my tears.
Exhausted from the elements of your abuse
my heart searches desperately for shelter.
I am afraid it shall find none.

Last year I took refuge in another's heart.
How wonderful life was with love and hope.
To be needed and loved, it is all I ask from you.
Yet it is only rejection that I ever receive.

I wish for last year's love to return
adding warmth to this first frost,
melting my pain like the morning sun.

Only my memories of feeling loved remain.
Though my heart holds tight those images
as the withered leaf clings to its branch.

I know not how I'll survive this season alone.
As I am afraid that fate will not be so kind again.

1997