tracing (Du'a)

tracing (Du'a)

"A hand specialist. I have scars on my hands from touching certain people."

Entry from Seymour's diary, Raise High the Roof Beams, Carpenters—J. D. Salinger

"Lay its head on summer’s freckled knees."

"Don't Carry It All," The King Is Dead—The Decemberists

he could trace the faint freckles

trailing across her thigh & knee

intercession with his fingertip

in the dark or with his eyes closed

on the table top when she wasn't there

a silent humming with his hand

& while tracing her constellation

over laminated wood or in the air

he could smell her springtime memory

with the ache blossoming in him like a hymn

as tracing spun to mantra yellow as pollen

this inverted laying of hungry hands

(touching her healed him leaving

invisible scars across his palms)

while he cried to songs reminding him of her—

he will never pause this ceaseless supplication

of tracing tracing tracing. . .