One                                     
                                                    d           ­                                                               
                                           e                                                        
                               a                                    
                  d                
          leaf       
brown & brittle
hangs upon a branch
Swayed by a Northly wind
     You turned to me,                         
                saying gently                                                   
   you would be gone            long before  
      the tree                  outside your window   
                              lost every one of its leaves                   You                         
                                       forgot                that brighter greens grow                                  
                                        beneath those rough        dark capillaries                                     
                                                which span this                 grey horizon                                              
                                                 Days pass                 shadows shorten                                                 
      & Spring renews            Sun warms       
     our upturned faces   Maybe soon      
                 you'll glimpse that fragile hope                 
                                                  still fluttering          above us                                                   
                            ­                            in the dappled canopy One                                                         
                                 single skeletal leaf       I'd                                   
                        attached­         with a                          
           steel safety pin            
.