Left Behind

I found this place once, long ago.
A distance saddens what I've missed;
The cattails near the undergrowth
Are buried beneath logs and sticks.

At dawn the dewdrops left to fall
Upon the frosted floor below
Would sparkle like a diamond shawl
That wraps around a mothers' glow.

The wind would whistle and sing in flight;
And when I turned to leave it all
The leaves would shake to say goodnight
Like hands that tap at opera halls.

But now this image fools my sight
With shadows I have left behind.
Shades of love - that dark delight -
Has rotted like the rivers' grime.