Off Season

by Grace Pappadellis ’29 on November 13, 2025


Portfolio


A home away from home

Even when the sun is tender and not hot

Even when the darkness is chill

Even when the ocean is by itself

No human vessels to keep it warm

The light travels through the brittle leaves

Seeping through branches

Reaching me as I stand on the sandy sidewalk

Emptiness around me

Wholeness within me

Reminiscent of the crowd

The late nights

The burning and the cooling lotion

The heat of my room

The breeze through the screen

There is a new comfort in the early nights

A whistling wind over a gentle blanket of air

Quilted room

Crackling light

A warm mug, sweetness, fluttering eyes

Soft voices and TV static

Floral-scented hair, still cold from wetness

I wish I could feel this season without remembering the last

No comparison, pure comfort and joy

A Sunday night without the sadness

An evening inside without missing out on the scooters and the big T-shirts

Summer Sundays in the fall

Long talks with no one

Warm skin, elegant footsteps

Not enough time to do nothing at all

Slow-moving toothbrush

Sweater socks, rickety staircase

Calendar ignorance

Fall asleep to the sound of sea

Fall asleep to the sound of my own heartbeat

A heart happy to be free of life, feeling like a Sunday