First thirty seconds of fall

I wake up to the surprise of cool, crisp air
the first break in the heat,
it's as sweet and smooth as brown sugar.

It makes me miss you.
More than the sultry, heavy heat of summer,
more than the cold twinge-bitter winter,
this crisp air, of new beginnings, of escape into blue
makes me close my eyes to thoughts of you.

A soft suede sky extends overhead,
flat, not arching and distant, but close, almost caressing the
tops of heads, touching the peeks of skin bared by cool weather clothes – hands, noses,
a flash of ankle on a steep hill,
a strip of back when a shoe is tied,
the white of teeth in a wide open laugh.