boy watches leaf in brook slip downstream

I left you, i thought, as one who leaves a leaf in a brook.
you slipped downstream and I only had left the beauty of this image:
dry and brittle underside - belly up, slowly wetting.
you spread from the spine, that curved slowly upwards and into the air,
into the water - sliding just beneath its surface.
Heaving with the ripples ever onward toward the sea.
I admit I watched you too long.
I stayed by the bank of the stream, perhaps indulgently,
until my eyes ached and you babbled on and away.
once I knew you were gone, I sighed.
I walked away with a wet, nostalgic sadness
that made me shiver when I thought of you.
But still, I walked away.
I knew better than to pine for fallen leaves.

But then you sent me postcards from the sea!

So I traveled to the breathing shore
where waves thoughtlessly cough up
all kinds of swallowed secrets and rotting things.
surely I'd find you again
soggy and sorry and full of ache for me.

but as I stood there - cool beach in toes -
I could only feel an inward anger at the strength of my illusions.