Autumn Leaves
Mother gave birth to me in the fall
in the midst of grieving trees and withering leaves.
Winter came home right after
accompanied by winds of solitude.
My earliest memories revolved around cold weather
yet I remember meeting with summer
before ever blowing my first candle.
I saw these same trees shimmer in full bloom.
I saw their branches clothed in vivid green.
Early on,
I learned not to shed a tear when autumn leaves
for I know that summer comes home through the shiver.
Reprinted from A Pathway Through Survival (2021). Copyright © 2021 by Margaret O. Daramola. Used with permission of the author. All rights reserved.
Margaret Daramola
Margaret Daramola is a writer, spoken word artist, and public speaker. She was raised in Switzerland, where she began writing at an early age. She holds a BA in English from Hampton University.
Daramola self-published her first poetry collection, A Pathway Through Survival, in 2021. She is the recipient of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) and the Hampton University Student Poet Initiative Award.