Parting Ways

Phantoms, like last breaths 
Where your lungs used to be 
Cascading, splinters of wispy smoke 
Stretching the airy, yellowed sky of autumn 
Like an oar through water 
Mirrored purity and vanity 
Rippling in the breeze, a sea of vibrant textures, 
like a mismatched rug the crinkled falling sun 
Lay down upon the land 
Belly-up 
A helicoptering of half-floating-half-falling leaves 
To the pavement, wet with rain 
A carpet for our children to walk on