I died as Autumn burned out bright

With phoenix shades of orange light,

As leaves cascaded from the trees

Brought down by a cold, caressing breeze.

 

I watched the sun move faster by

As nights grew long and Summer died,

The world grew cold and death came near

As daylight all but disappeared.

 

Yet in the trees with quaking leaves

I hear her whisper out to me,

And though my eyes now lose their sight

Her smile beckons to the night.

 

It's been some years since "way back when,"

When we were only kids, back then

We knew the games we loved to play

We feared the night but loved the day.

 

I had her laugh through years of bliss,

Through sorrows still I had her kiss,

But then, in words too sad to tell,

With Autumn leaves in death she fell.

 

How cold was Winter with the snow

When I found myself again alone,

The ice that takes the rose's bloom

Had placed my heart in frozen gloom.

 

Her death had all but claimed my world

And all my darkness then unfurled

Releasing all the hurt inside

As if my soul had also died.

 

When I decided I would end

This hell that I was living in,

I found a note she left to me,

Which changed my world entirely.

 

It had a picture of the night

We stayed awake until first light,

We watched the nighttime end with dawn

As we listened to our favorite song.

 

The note was short, and all it said

Was: "Thank you for the life you've led,

"For all the pain that you'll go through,

"There's just one thing that you can do:

 

"Move on, no matter what may be,

"Be brave, though only night you see,

"Stay strong, for I am always yours

"Live on, though I may live no more.

 

"This world can be so dark and grim,

"And evil may always seem to win,

"And even I will one day die,

"But every day the sun will rise."

 

So now, these fifty years long past,

I go to where she rests at last,

And as I fall and Summer dies

I watch with her a new sun rise.