I. She waits in the shade Of a best-loved oak, Where he once carved their names inside a heart: "This means forever."
II. The heart needs tending --she visits from year-to-year. Her security, a vow. His constraint, a contract. She made to open the door but he detained her, A perjury. Pruning stems, branching --cognitively speaking-- Dead or alive.
III. The landscape has changed: This place no longer holds water. Listen now for love's addendum, Measured in the signal-to-noise ratio. (You'll hear it all the time).
IV. Oh, painfully leafless gray meadow. Sufferance is a viable timekeeper, When it storms the weak run for shelter.