The Light This Year

The light this year has changed me.
Or perhaps it is the light that has changed around me.
I have never thought so much about sunsets and sunrises
as I have this year.
The light-
or the leaves-
this autumn left me with a memory of orange.
The air, too, smelled different, crisper, more brilliant,
but still orange.

And then there was you-
you were not orange but lovely.

I have felt you between my arms
breathing on my neck
more than any year prior.

I know that life cannot always be like this-
but when I look at you,
lit by orangey sunshine,
I say a prayer of thanks
for the light this year.