Scarf

Whoever claims beauty 
lies in the eye 
of the beholder 

has forgotten the music 
silk makes settling 
across a bared 

neck: skin never touched 
so gently except 
by a child 

or a lover.

Copyright Credit: Poem copyright ©2021 by Rita Dove, “Scarf” from Playlist for the Apocalypse, (W.W. Norton & Company, 2021.) Poem reprinted by permission of the author and the publisher.