Havdalah (Separation)

For Jes, because she keeps it going around here long after we all got lazy.

You are not permitted to mark your body
in honor of the dead, to use needles or ink
as a way to diminish the hurt. There must be
a separation between things, between
those in the ocean and those on the shore.
I must learn not to reach out for a ghost
in the night, try to uncompose all of
your songs, find a way to imprint on my skin
from the inside.