leaving

walking down the street today watching the curl of my breath in the air as i exhaled, slipped my hands into my pockets pulled from the folds of denim a pile of pale dry crumbled fragments that vanished twisting into the breeze only a memory of warmer air, of the close of a day, of another walk, singing face flung to the blue skies above until the perfect shade of autumn crimson caught my eye and i stopped and reached down, spun it between my fingers then tucked it away as if to save that fall day, that anticipation in the air, that sense of the weather almost gone, hovering before fading away. a smattering of vibrant leaves lighting up the street where today they lie soggy and brown clogging the drains and soaking the hems of my jeans. i brushed the last bits from my fingertips trying to recall their former hue but the sky only turned greyer and spat raindrops my way, whispering: winter is here.