To Karin: The 'Touch Me'
It looked just like a coaster—
a membrane of soft plastic,
yellow, green and cobalt blue,
the colors swirling at your touch,
like it could feel something too.
I did not know ‘til later,
that it also reflected you.
I thought it just a trinket,
a trick of vinyl and hue,
given not with coy delight,
but offered straight and true.
It changed when touched
(just like a heart)
and maybe so did you.
Like heat that leaves no mark,
you slipped across my skin—
a shimmer, then a fading,
too fleeting to box in.
You moved like light through water,
and left me changed again,
before the stillness flowed.
I no longer chase the shimmer,
or try to name its shade.
Some things are meant to vanish,
but not before they stain.
You left no mark I can point to—
only the ache that still remains
when I remember you.
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