we speak on the shore, tongues lapping each impulse a leaf on the water careening then swallowed you were evergreen then and deciduous i, perfidious i was born from shuttered seasons i shuddered as your fingers mapped these veins innumerable now count these veins and i was red and upturned and i hoped you would die before the springtime i was red and upturned and i hoped you would die you were skipping stones toes in the water when i opened you and you turned red and i turned grey as arbiter wind buried us in leaves and there we lay until the springtime when melted snow washed us away