a late october night

beneath yellow streetlamps
damp oak leaves glisten
stuck on pavement
like confetti.

summer parties long over
we walk in elemental silence
where everything worth saying
hangs by a thread.

each step pulls us further
from your dormant house
shuttered to meet
the impending cold.

up ahead a pickup truck
speeds down the narrow lane
with high beams
blinding both our faces.

my exhaled breath lost
without a trace.