Consolation

Heraclitus said "No man steps into the same river twice, for neither himself nor the river are ever the same again"

The fossilized leaf lays in pieces
on the concrete floor,
prisoner no longer at least,
still bearing faintly the green
that once had been

She bends to hold it,
the size of a heart, shattered
like the spring ice storm
that broke that branch once before,
shivering, alone again

The touch unlocks the chamber
of the crossover, and knows the sin
waiting behind, prepared this time,
 the sole antidote to blindsiding love
is a sealed tomb of longing