Septembers Song

Septembers Song

The wind rakes the edges of morning

leaves gather where we leave them

footsteps crack on wet streets

a low song moves under the city’s bones

quiet tastes of ash and smoke

and I hold it in my chest

Windows smear faces into nothing

everyone walks through stories I cannot touch

the air smells of rain and burnt pages

I pass shadows that remember me

snatches of words cling and break

gone before I can catch them

Streetlights bleed over broken pavement

their glow scratches like fingernails

I count the beats of passing cars

the city pulses against my ribs

its ache presses in

soft and unforgiving

Somewhere a melody bends the air

a note I almost know

wraps around my spine

ghosting through a rib

touching me in ways

I cannot name

I pass doors that hold nothing

shops smelling of coffee and grief

people blind to the sky

and I hum a song that is mine

Septembers leak into the spaces I live in

I cup the color of them in my hands

Night drags itself over the streets

stars hiding behind thick clouds

the song curls in my chest

a small defiance, a spark

Septembers return

and I carry them under my skin