think better of it

october i remember you cutting me out a paper crown, and
asking if i would care to be queen. we were everyone's best
eccentrics then, sitting in the backyard while the leaves got
brown and dead, humming songs and growing cold. winter
slid like a letter-opener under your skin; i must protest your
feudal annoyances! i remember accepting that paper crown.
time is dissolving in my teacup; familiarity dissipating over
the cracked china teeth. and, dear, it was getting late
even before that first ice storm to start thinking better of us.