Autumn

• Callista Toth, Grade 9
• Poetry
• 2017

She is the in-between. The middle grounds for the extremities of hot and cold; the transition between the light, and the dark. The still calmness in the world before the icy cold storm, she is a pause in time; yet, the remaining balance.

She is like the crackling sound of footsteps on fallen crinkled leaves, the feel of the muddy grounds beneath our feet. Her deep gold and maroon flecked hair strands held on by tiny little follicles of a gradient deep brown and a near-to black, shining like small streams of sunlight falling through quiet mountain peaks. She is radiant of both warmth and coldness; However, the chills she brings to the life around her could never equate to her fiery gaze from eyes full of the speckles of every colour from both dusk and dawn.

A captivating experience to the naked eye, she is. But if she was put under a microscope she’d be even more stunning than anyone could've ever anticipated from a human quite as fragile and petite as her. An aurora full of freckles; an entire galaxy brought to her gentle body, her warm complexion causing her to shine even brighter than the mind could even dream of.

She is the smell of warm apple cinnamon and pumpkin spice perfume, utterly stained upon every and any item of clothing she comes across. However, it is most comforting after inhaling the scent of sea salt and warm nights for so long. A breath of fresh air.

She is the 3 month long break in-between the most ruthless of days; a truly time-stopping experience upon any living organism to ever come across her utterly elegant and ever-so welcoming presence. She is a truly breath-taking combination of atoms, binding together in a bright twist of never-ending colours and eerie warmth, like the lengthy limbs of a looming oak tree.

She is Autumn.