it floated away

you carved
her initials
into the tree
with yours
below hers,
connected
by a plus sign.
you dug
deep into
the bark,
circling
the letters
with a crude
shaped
heart, and the
numbers, 03.
a year went by,
then another.
the third year
you took
the tree down
with an axe,
chopping away
at the roots,
at the trunk
until it fell,
rolled down hill
into the stream
where the currents
of time floated
love away.