by Michelle Carrillo Arellano

Created on: August 11, 2007

OCTOBER AIR

October winds blow upon my face with that deathly cold but somehow comforting autumn air. Colors have come to life which seemingly contrasts that eerie wind. I can hear the crunching of leaves below my feet as I walk through the abandoned park. My long coat can't keep out the bitter air that seeps through the gaps beweet the buttons. All that's left of Summer now is the ice cream wrappers and forgotten balls left strewn all across the barren earthy ground.

The only visitors here, crows, who fly through the windswept trees like black angels. All other life has deserted this park like the betrayal of a heartfelt friend. Red leaves provocatively dance across the ground as though trying to masquerade as fire. They've taken over now and our welcome is denied. The branches of the trees rumble in protest of the change in process as the leaves fall one by one to the ground below.

I sit down for a moment to reminisce back to when I first learned to appreciate this time of year. Loneliness is a subtle way of describing Autumn's presence. Quite lonely yes, but at the same time I've never experienced such tranquility in complete isolation. With the cold Autumn air so deafening to my ears and the psychosomatic remoteness caused by this melancholic season, I am almost completely convinced that I've either recently experienced an untimely death or I've fallen asleep on the park bench.

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