#freeverse #poetry
September sunshine a last hurrah
Before the beauty and melancholy
Of October arrives – all those autumn
Colours as leaves release their hold.
Blown by chilly autumn winds that
Come as the wheel of the year turns.
Leaves fall and are turned to mulch
To feed their guardian trees in winter.
While deep below the earth the
Mycelium weave their intricate network
Like the world wide web, consuming
The dying, the dead and the decayed.
Heartbreak comes each October as
The month contains the birthday
And death day of my younger son.
Memories are stirred up like the leaves,
As griefs painful fingers grip both
The aching heart and the saddened soul.
My beautiful boy does not age at all
But remains for me, forever twenty-two.
Twenty-eight years have now passed.
The grief is born each day and life
Just goes on as if nothing happened,
But it did, he lived and died briefly.
We come into this world on our own,
That is how we leave it too – alone.
For those of us who have served others
On a military front line we have learnt
The value of light and life, we warriors,
Women and men who could have died.
We put others first and is not that the
Role of mothers and grandmothers?
Yet, it can be a heavy burden to carry
Alone, cast out by family members,
Who like to blame others rather than
Take responsibility for their actions.
Life often seems cruel and without
Heart but sometimes it brings us
Salvation, as remembrance comforts
Our thoughts and quietens our souls.
Remembrance of a dear son gone
Too soon all that unfulfilled potential.
Forgiveness is my banner to those
That neither seek it or deserve it.
In forgiveness is the letting go that
Inevitably helps us regain our freedom.
The heart is where love goes to grieve
The soul is where the poetry pulsates.
©🦊VixenOfVerse, 2026
Dedicated to my younger son, Evan Crossley — Forever 22. R.I.P.
