Thoughts in winter

In autumn
I always thought you would never leave...

but now its winter.
The Wisteria has shed all its autumn leaves
a carpet down the driveway ...
against the verandah beam, the creeper
is shaky at the far end.

You told me
autumn would never end ...
that I should stop smoking, it would be my finale.

Words
are still in my head, recollections
of middle age.