🍂 Scattered Autumn Leaves 🍂 Poem by James McLain

I knew the tides would sing them back to me,
Those ships I watched upon the winding seas,
Laden with love's last fragile memory,
Of words that drift like scattered autumn leaves.

They sailed away in evening's gentle glow,
Their sails brushed gold by setting sun's embrace,
But still I feel the way their shadows flow,
Returning as faint whispers, lost in grace.

I climb the mountain where we used to stand,
The peaks that knew our laughter, soft and wild,
Hoping for their shapes upon the sand,
The warmth once traced by love's own restless child.

My heart, though weary, speaks no lonely lies,
It waits for them as clear as moon's pale fire,
Believing still the depth within their eyes
Could light the spark of long-forgotten desire.

Yet silent winds and waves both come and go,
And I am left with dreams alone to keep,
A flicker caught in time's relentless flow,
Where love is lulled into a restless sleep.

The heart does not betray what it once knew—
For in its hollow, bright as morning's start,
They linger still, as pure as silver dew,
Returned each night to haunt a steadfast heart.