I Feared That the Dam Might Break So I Loosed the River

I can never remake the thing I have destroyed;
  I brushed the golden dust from the moth’s bright wing,
I called down wind to shatter the cherry-blossoms,
  I did a terrible thing.

I feared that the cup might fall, so I flung it from me;
  I feared that the bird might fly, so I set it free;
I feared that the dam might break, so I loosed the river:
  May its waters cover me.

— Aline Murray Kilmer, “Shards”