Under each new leaf,
  I was offered love

As her face
  then changed again

“Please stay, don’t go,”
  she pleaded dear

As boredom
  then set in

The names have gone,
  the memories stay

The guilt,
  my stone to drag

At night this weight,
  to crush my chest

In dreams
—so very sad

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)