My Fingerprints Left on a Book

by Sotère Torregian

My Fingerprints Left on a Book
     Quel signe retrouver  ?
— L.S. Senghor, Chants d ‘ombre

My fingerprints left on the cover of a book
Testifying as neither Black nor White
shall trouble no one at night    but intone instead
as the harbingers    of dreams
in an unsuspecting    girl’s    imagining
as    she grasps the tome
reminder
of an author’s pride    or ambition    in
their    imprimatur
And eventually be erased    by a free-and-easy    shelver’s
usage    in time
No    interest for the forensics
of a Scotland Yard here as one might    gaze
upon    a wanted-poster in
a post-office
But their innocuous    presence
retrove    if you will the
origins    of a poem
their pilgrim’s path across

A young    woman’s cheek    now only in memory

Or dabbling in an insouciant idling
the hours in frustrated    reworkings
of the day    inextricably record

That in the service    of life and love
an upstart vagrant poet    once lived
and dwelt    herein

Sotère Torregian
Janvier, 2022