INVISIBLE INK
In memory of Mike James
The letter from his friend came inscribed
With invisible ink. He pondered it, puzzled,
Then remembered hearing once how
To make such things viewable.
He held it over a candle’s open flame.
Just before it ignited, the words
Appeared, but the paper immolated
In his hand before he could read it.
How much more is there to be said?
His friend is dead now, gone. Ashes stirring
with the slightest breeze, drifting upward
like grey snow run backwards and projected
onto the future. Fertile memories to be
reawakened in the shadows of dusk,
harvested from the white fields holding
words he left behind unsaid, unwritten.
About the Author: M.J. (Michael Joseph) Arcangelini was born 1952 in western Pennsylvania. He has resided in northern California since 1979. His work has been published in many magazines, online journals, over a dozen anthologies, & 6 collections, the most recent of which is “Pawning My Sins” from Luchador Press, 2022.
Image Credit: Paul Cézanne “The Artist’s Son Writing” (1887) Public domain image courtesy of Artvee.
As It Ought To Be 