mute witnessses

by Robert Hampson

who scatters teeth as tokens of the dead
so that the earth itself will testify
to those whose bodies have disappeared
in a future beyond this present time
who gives voice to these mute witnesses
the inks that fade the pages that decay
the distinctiveness of character forms
indications of class and circumstance
who carves letters into the soft paper
infuses each curl & line & flourish
where feeling is an act of defiance
who tries to read these traces of gestures
retraces the route of the writer’s hand
this body that responds to another’s