Three leaves smaller than fingerprints

each short on a longer stem.

Dark earth stains the fissures

on the richer green face.

Pale and sickly like a fresh infection

the back shows the prominent arms

of the stem. It is a cross with

wings. A cross with white thistle

fur that is almost sensed

but hardly seen.

Veins give life

to the three wings

but it lives no longer

as it once did

just as the messiah

on the cross…