with autumn comes a brisk beauty that brightens your eyes and glows in your cheeks. and when the first autumn breeze makes the bronzed leaves at your feet dance across the pavement to sweep around that stranger, your eyes catch his and smile, because it's beautiful.

an old man sits on the park bench, with a long matted beard and too many ragged jackets. he stares at you with hollow eyes that have long forgotten that beauty exists. and that empty stare chills you more than the nippy wind - oh, you wish you could grab his hands and show him life - but he has even forgotten sadness, and he's waiting for his turn to die.

a young girl and a young boy sit outside a cafe, their eyes betraying that they know beauty. the gentle wind invigorates her already radiant face, and he thinks she grows even more beautiful. and you walk by them joyfully, because they have found this secret of living.

the wind loosens grey hair from its meticulous bun as the lady reaches to water the flowers on her window ledge. with tired eyes she looks down at the eddying leaves and smiles, becoming a young girl again and seeing everything new. her reminiscing eyes are light, and though her face is aged, nothing could seem lovelier to you. she remembers.

in a pretty park, anxious young mothers look on as children play in the fallen leaves. they worry about their children stumbling and hurting themselves, and wonder what they will make for dinner - and you cry for them, because they have become blind so soon; they have already forgotten the ravishing autumn breeze.