Lipstick stains on deciduous bark
endure, undetectable under the blush
of umber notes hung on stiff arms
ready to be 
torn by the wind,
drifted down a creek 
like a microcosm of the oceanic 
message in a bottle.

Love-letters are effaced by 
silt and diluted fish filth
if not found at the precise moment
characters remain legible.

Like invisible ink arouses the eyes when
facilitated by lemons, so your note to me	
that you left in spring, covered by sage veins,
slowly surfaces as the jade turns bronze
turns translucent sepia
to finally tumble into the shallows,

and I wait there for this to happen,
to pluck the damp-not-wet from the 
rippled roots of shore-dwelling lovers.
Pitifully planted on opposite banks, 
they relentlessly reach to graze		 
the free edges of their fingernails.

Other lovers’ notes collide, and I know it’s time.
I pick the freshly fallen by its stem and shake
gingerly, just once, hold the auburn against
the burning sun, and in your selective shade,
I read:

Meet me here the morning
of All Saints’ Day
and let us make 
ecclesiastical 
envy
of our ecstasy.

Gold winner of this contest: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2831128-National-Poetry-Month-April-22nd-noguest