Contagious as your hummingbird smile may be,

it is your hands…

hands that sculpt ki into a dragon’s mouth

with arcs of mother-of-pearl framing rainbow flames

that smell of warm milk and nutmeg, while your

touch draws the breath of muscle to bone,

then deeper.

Too few lines cross your hands,

large, almost too large, they hold the sea.

Ki–Japanese word meaning energy or life force.

Thank you to the editor of Something Like Homesickness for first publishing this poem.