fingerprints

crucial tools

in solving crimes

neglected for 

their better signs

of life and love

and art

and then once

when evidence

is in the kitchen

on the pot that

soon will feed some

in the paint that 

brushes canvas

or the cheek

that begs caress

crucial tools

we must reclaim

leave our mark

with no duress

when the garden

calls a gardener

fingerprints 

left on the spade

a language felt

is language made

to flower for

a life eternal

nature shows us

everyday

fingerprints 

so boldly made

appear in stories

free of crime

splayed across the

poet’s rhyme

shifts the song

from verse to verse

heals the wounded

stops the worst

from happening

lower your hand

press on the earth

lift to see what 

you are worth

For Beatrice