Alina Rios

Reds, greens, oranges, and browns crunch under my feet.
They flap their veiny wings in the moody wind gusts.
I walk to see you for the last time,
Through the park where we first kissed,
In the Spring, when all was hope and hot happy tears.

They tell me, life is just beginning.
New country, new opportunities, new dreams…
But I dream of you, and me, wrapped in wool
On the royal blanket of leaves,
Timeless earthy tokens of love broken by circumstance.

You are waiting for me, breath on the window.
Our eyes meet and I can see my sadness in yours.
You hold my hand, simply, softly, and take me back to the park.
Huddled together, in dripping silence,
We collect leaves in big smelly heaps.

And then slowly, you weave me a crown,
And I weave you one, just like mine.
Crowns are hard to kiss in, did you know?
But we kiss, the new king and queen of this dying love,
We kiss until our lips bleed like our hearts.

At the airport, sentinels of the country borders
Take my leafy crown away.
My family, they watch me falling, apathetic.
Pressed into the seat, ground falling away, I hear your voice,
“My heart’s in every fallen leaf, my queen…”