A human being
is not symmetrical.

– Srecko Kosovel

1.

I gently touch you now

not the way I did

eleven years ago—

not with that yearning

for faith and peace,

but with a private prayer

for inner calm, care,

stillness; and

for forgiveness and love.

The gleaming hand-worn

shine on Jerusalem stone,

where the public merges

with the private,

where prayer and passion

collide and unite—

where a certain kind

of kindness changes

to another kind—

Commonwealth Literature Journal, The Wailing Wall, Gun-Slung Soldiers, Mustard Blooms, Triptych, Quartet, Broken Pillars, Bussokusekika.