Hope endures.

Her bare feet met the soft gravel of that road called Forest Drive, the remnant warmth of the last day of summer's sun lacing each step, as the memories of yesteryear flooded her eyes with those familiar tears of longing quietude and tender grief. And like the Earth, the leaves, a somber gold, her heart beat with each step, as memories of those golden years still wrung with such sweetness and brazen light. Though indeed, those leaves may fall, and the sun may grow distant and cold, the Promise remains, of fortitude, of beauty -defiant- and grace. All that is fallen and torn, fades. And that which is golden, falls away, it seems...but with each step in time, the warmth yet impinges that which will become so graven, and hope endures.