When Autumn Comes

The memory of a first love

I remember you

On autumn days

When tufted milkweed clouds

Float in a lazy

Airbrushed sky.

 

I remember sitting

On my front steps

Reading Tolkien and

Sir Thomas Malory

Dreaming of Middle Earth

And Camelot

And you.

 

All the times

You never walked by

All the times

I prayed you would

The dreams of

An innocent girl

Hanging like wood smoke

On a crisp afternoon.

 

I sat and waited

Expecting you to find me

To know I was there on

My front porch in the sunlight

You passed me by

Before we ever met but

At fourteen I would have traded

All my dreams for just

One autumn afternoon

With you.

 

-Zoe Richardson 

Author's Note

Thank you for reading. I'm entering this in a contest!

Reviews

[Fran Marie]

young love is so sweet
and innocent; memories
linger still..we would meet on
a tennis court at the park

he was fourteen
I was thirteen we played for
a couple of hours and then
went for sodas at the drugstore
back in the day..your poem is so lovely...
and nicely penned..

[Gee]

Hmmmm, my first love was Liverpool Football Club, this from aged 9 and crying as they lost the FA Cup final to Arsenal, 2 - 1, GUTTED. I then had numerous schoolboy crushes on female teachers, an older woman thing, then lived with a woman for a few years but never truly loved her, so we split. Met my one true love in 1991, we are still together, she gifted me another true love in 2000, my daughter, and my eternal love, mum, left in 2019, but never really has :))

[Zoe Richardson]

It's like that sometimes. You don't experience much in the way of love, but when you find it, it's permanent! I feel about my Crimson Tide the way you felt about your Liverpool soccer club. I'm good with it being my only love far into the future! Thank you for your comments and sharing your memories.

[LostSage]

this is beautiful female psychology.... I am a dumb boy....when I think back now....i think...there were a few girls that sent me hints that they liked me a lot...but I am a dumb boy and did not notice....so gorgeous this poem....makes me think too much....but I can capture the imagery from this....I can see it clear in my mind like I am watching a movie....I have boy psychology.... I can still see the girls walk down the hall in school with their tight blue jeans on

[Zoe Richardson]

That's it! I should have worn tighter jeans. That would have been much more alluring than sitting and reading a book.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I remember my first love...and driving past her house hoping she might be sitting outside so that I could stop and spend time with her.
we would spend time together and I would walk her home from my house, six blocks, then she would walk me halfway back to my house and on and on....then as soon as we were home, we would be on the phone for hours...ah young love...an innocent boy, and innocent girl and leaves falling.
Nostalgic write.
j.

[Zoe Richardson]

That is so sweet! Alas, my love was unrequited. But the memory of the dreaming, and the belief that love could happen, is sweet, too.

[Kelly Scheppers]

I remember sitting on my front porch in the summertime. At fourteen, it was hard to sit still for any length of time. I miss those years. We were so hungry to grow up and be older than we were. Thanks for the journey back in time, Zoe. Nice to meet you!

[Zoe Richardson]

Nice to meet you, too! And thank you for your kind, thoughtful words. We were in such a hurry. But the memories are sweet, aren't they?

[Kelly Scheppers]

Yes, indeed!