happy

to see you walking in front of me, walking with confidence, walking with the sunshine on your hair, your shoulders, splashing on your shoes as you put your right leg out, then your left leg.

i like to stand under the tree and watch you walk, to see how long it takes you to know that i'm stationary, fixated on you, in the cool, passing shadows of a nice summer day, of dying heat slowing giving way to autumn and the wondrously romantic fall of things that prepare to be born again in a matter of one hundred days of icy rest.

calm, lively, you walk on, and when you get too far, i take a few steps, out from the shadows. just so many that i can keep you in sight for a little while longer.

just so many that i can see her hand holding yours.

and then you turn, and you wave, and she waves too.

so i wave, and smile, and wait for autumn to come.