Albedo

she’s a natural here
                              winter woods
          snow, snow melt

                                                            grainy slabs of basalt
                                        yet tense, fearful
                                                                                grief has her 

here where once she strode
                              now she’s dimmed
          so fruitless to say

                                                            time heals — nothing heals, though time
                                        blurs, softens, mutes
                                                                                & nothing stops

pain, ready
                              every second
          to flare, to flame

                                                            yet sunshine on snow
                                        boosts albedo
                                                                                cools the earth