The scarified man

is incised and burnt

with the inscriptions

of a lifetime.

Like tattoos, these intaglios

fade and change with time

as the body changes.

Some become distorted

beyond recognition.

Others grow faint

as a watermark upon a page.

Yet there are some

that never change.

They are deeply incised

and true to their form

as the pictographs

on a stone temple wall.

In moments before sleep,

half-dreaming, he touches

them one by one, and wonders

if anyone can see them.

(First appeared in Midnight Echo #3, 2009)