Calico Frost

Soft pink

mixed with the blue of today

a magenta now

you can see the swirls and streaks of the colors in the sky

warm and cool

the sharp, sincere orange flashes across the horizon

mixing

merging

Wisps of smoke flick through the sky

a quickly fading whisper of what was

of what used to be

but not anymore.

Faintly glowing embers

tokens of the past

they fade away too soon

There's a lilac bush

or a tree

or a bush-tree

none of us can actually tell

and its name is Bob

or Barbara

or Bobara

none of us can decide

and it is a gender-fluid lilac bush/tree/bush-tree

The original three

the beginning, almost

of our bond.

In my backyard

reading books that we found

weird

gross

too informational

with comic strips

I can't believe it

I've never mentioned it for almost a year now

it turns out that I really can keep secrets for this long

from even myself

from the universe

from everyone else

from my confidants.

It’s over

they’ve left

their farewell party has ended

the streamers lying in crumpled heaps on the ground

the paper chains that had once hung on the walls have fallen,