sweet decay,
you were always my favourite season

smell like rainfall and
taste like jazz
steal the leaves from the trees
and put stars in the sky
(and your eyes
wink like planets
from the cool endlessness of your body)
sweet decay,
you were always my favourite season

fill the nights with heady woodsmoke and choke
out the butterflies
of greener days-
I’m done with them, darling, I’m
done with them
(and your mouth
curves like a river
overfull with leaving life and ripe
with colour)
dew glistens- precious gems
on rotting forest carpets
sweet decay,
you were always my favourite season

sunsets darken like spilled wine
over pages of oceans and tall, crying hills
your caress seems to promise
soon ice giants will
overtake us-
not for days, though
(in the meantime your fingers
blow through my hair
as I stretch my body against you)
lights fade and play
in magenta air
turning earth into mars-scape
sweet decay,
you were always my favourite season

you sit in your throne and
throw stones at me
pelt me with I-told-you-so’s
I am always afraid
when I see springtime buds
for I know that forever they’ll fade into snow
every year you come back
and seduce me
every year you leave far too soon…

sweet decay,
you were always my favourite season