I'm sitting in the sand

as the sun plants blisters on my skin

that feel like kisses;

or I'm trudging up a mountain

wind mixed with snow whipping my face

leaving marks in funny shapes;

and I think of you--

but darling,

I'm forgetting you

one sweet day

at a time.

Tell me I was winter.

Your frosted fingers like icicles

intertwined with mine

didn’t touch your soul with warmth.

You pulled away and shivered

in ugly truth

because you realized

you could stand the coldness

that is yourself

without me beside you.

Tell me I was spring.

as my flowers budded up and up--

out of the soil

you stepped on them and crushed them

because you couldn’t stand to watch me grow

deeper in love

when you weren’t capable of watering me

any longer.

Tell me I was summer.

Your body was scorched every time

your skin had to touch mine,

but you bathed in the sun's rays with me anyway.

You held me in the pool’s waves thinking about

how you’d soon drown me

but not yet--

because you couldn’t yet say those five words

“I don’t love you anymore.”

Tell me I was autumn.

The leaves started to fall just like me

falling--

falling deeper into sadness.

The absence of you struck me

like the chill wind of the dark evening;

caused my skin to prickle when I looked around and saw

you weren’t beside me.

Then came mid November--

and I breathed in the sweet smells

of earth and water and trees

and I looked at the empty space beside myself

and laughed,

because just like you changed,

seasons change too.

I had been changing right before my eyes

and now I will wake up

to a new December

and I will say to myself and smile as I say

these new six words

“I don’t love you anymore either.”