After Summer

I spent years smothered by heat, sweat, and green

Ten years of sunlight and dirty bare feet

First in the jungle, then in the desert

I forgot what is was to be cold

I thrived as a child

While the sun burned above me

I cared not for the sweat on my brow

Nor the dirt on my feet

I suffocated as I grew older

The heat like a weight on my chest

The sun incessant in its fire

I grew tired of the fever

It started as a silent promise

Whispered in my ear through the wind –

I was told winter would never love me

But the wind told me differently

First the leaves began to change

The greens turned gold, amber, brown

My breath fogged in the air

I felt the first shiver across my skin

Then the snow fell

The gold, the amber, the brown

Was covered in pure white

It blinded me

I squint through the brightness

The cold biting my nose, my cheeks, my eyes

Inescapable cold –

Like the heat had once been for me

The weight on my chest lifts

I smile at the flakes on my eyelashes

I laugh while my boots slip on the ice

So this is what is to be cold?

As the nights grow long

And my bones freeze

I pray I will never again

Be smothered by heat, sweat, and green