Red Penance

Under the shade of that proliferous maple tree we named

I'd given you a piece of my naive heart

When I handed over a fragment of that red ribbon

I still remember how you'd smiled reluctantly

In shades of twilight wavering from mauve to scarlet

You had returned that piece of me when you left

Imprudent to believe in the eternity of young love

I'd vowed to reparate my life to obliviate my scars

Discarded that wretched fragment of red ribbon 

I had embarked a journey on a turn to another road

The miserable ribbon unaware of my reverberating battles

Remained desolate on that spot- my incompetent sword

A whiplash of raging storm washed it down the cliff

As I kept descending into your miserable memories

The fervent stream rolled it forth with the pebbles

As I tossed my desires beneath the pattering raindrops

It crashed against unrelenting waves and surged carelessly

While I wished my fears would escape like an Albatross

On a frozen blue midnight it swept along a canopy to the shore

While the frozen chunks of my innocence gasped under snow

When Autumn bade farewell, it swooshed along with broken twigs

As my visions of you began to dissolve into old debts across time

When it slept beneath the cushions of dried leaves in summer

My fears evanesced in my pleas of mercy for atonement of new journeys

It disappeared in the follies of my young years embraced by time

And I rose into the skies with the strength of my scars

Soothing whispers and wailing sobs found an abode together

My exile demanded a resurrection of my past to attain salvation

Last year I heard a hurricane had uprooted our dear maple tree

I retreated the half mile I'd traversed half a decade ago with you 

Unshackled to your anchor, my ship sailed smoothly till our spot

A fragment of a faded red ribbon fell next to a rising maple sapling

Enchanted by the divine coincidence manifested from my journey

I buried it with a soothing effervescence releasing you at last

The sapling of my red penance revived me with hope and bliss

I only remember the red memories now, not how the moments made me feel.