delicate (rice paper)

delicate (rice paper)

her skin was as delicate

as rice paper

as rare

as kindness sustained

(anyone could be kind

or string acts of kindness

one after the other

to appear kind

but sustained kindness

offered beyond thought

was rare and beautiful)

and that skin

pale and sun-denied in winter

toasted brown in summer heat

(he would learn in the days to come)

made every shape curve and gesture

of her nearly unbearable and indelible

and he fell in love with her

watching her unaware of him

before she knew anyone watched

before she could imagine being watched

or loved

like a haiku carefully feathered

black ink etched across rice paper

rolled and tied with a green ribbon

later much later

when she sat cross-legged and barefoot

the soft white arch of her upturned foot

assured him of the promise of kindness

and nothing as delicate as that could match

the words he tried to lift from his lungs

that came out as only humming

and then she smiled kindly without thinking