A Change in the Weather - Oct 6 2025

 

A Change in the Weather 

Oct 6 2025

The cold front seemed to portend

something more than the end

of a late-in-life summer 

that felt like school was out,

as if we were young

hot-blooded

and had three whole months

to do as we pleased.

It was there in that cool glance

lack of affection

turned back

I saw, but didn’t register. 

I wasn’t ready

and failed to dress for it.

It was if the warm weather

had left me thin-blooded

and my resistance soft.

As if against my better judgment

I’d come to expect 

that sultry summer would never end;

even as the days grew short

and the nights were long

in the empty bed

where more and more

I slept alone.

It began with dull skies

a cool breeze

and a cold hard rain.

The parched ground was also hard,

so the water pooled

before sinking in

where it could replenish the earth.

That is, if there ever is another spring

in these northern latitudes

of wintry temperaments

and careful distances.

Not that the dark clouds

hadn’t been there all along

hovering on the horizon.

But then, aren’t they always there;

if not exactly on

then just beyond?

Because it’s in the nature of weather to change;

rain, hail, hurricanes

or the first wet snow.

Still, I was caught off guard.

A cold

that went to the bone

and chilled my heart.