TERMINAL POEMS

The Woodworker

23 / 40 · IV. The Hand

He does not ask the grain
to be otherwise.

The chisel reads
what the wood
has always known –

a knot here,
a split-line there,
the memory of a branch
that turned
towards light
it never reached.

No prompt
will tell you
where to stop.

That is the hand’s work –

knowing the moment
before too much
becomes
too late.
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