Gone with the wind are the last summer days and now the skies are painted deep in gray, like the weary thoughts crawling through my mind, melancholic clouds grow tedious, suffocating and unkind. Faded leaves abandon the branches bare, a distant echo, reminder of winter and despair, yet I cling to that fading warmth with tooth and nail, for I fear the ferocity of the dark winter gale. Autumn in body and spirit has arrived the birds take their final flight, time demands a choice - swim or drown, uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.