Mystery Resists

Strange to contemplate a human face –
saddled in its skin – prey to chromosomal
intimacies like a mother’s eyes, father’s chin –

odd to think how very unsurprisingly akin
it is to every other face: features more or less
proportionate, predictably in place: reproducing

higher primate symmetries that go a great length
to erasing differences between what I call you,
what you call me. Weirder still to try to draw

the thing and look it in its pupils: worse – stupid
and unscrupulous! – awkwardness sounds
its alarm: bangs a gong – evidently you are

doing something very wrong. Mystery resists:
delicate attention must be paid to care for it.
You wish you'd known how to prepare for it.

.