ON PATINA

Perfection is temporary.
Use intervenes.

A surface gives.
Touch concentrates. Edges soften. Color retreats.
Sun favors certain places.
Hands do too.

Evidence gathers without ceremony.
A darkened handle.
The pale interruption beneath a frame.
Stone burnished where footsteps agree.
A table remembers elbows.
Silver objects surrender their shine.
Leather relaxes its posture.
Wood deepens around the familiar.

Repetition leaves its own precision.
Care leaves marks too.

A repair interrupts the original.
Sometimes beautifully.

Something added. Something removed.

An outline persists.
Absence develops shape.
Age distributes itself unevenly.
So does affection.

Things become more through use.
What remains has been willfully amended without consent.

-VLE