Relief Watermark

Haikus

Help was briefly here
You must hold it to the light
To see that we tried

Watermark of grief
Baked into the heavy page
Invisible care

Tilt the document
You will see the ghost of help
Fading from the view

Form was stamped with care
But the ink was much too faint
Blank page is retained

Human touched the form
We have logged the tiny smudge
Please do not touch forms

Care is filed away
In the tray for wet cement
It will harden there

Stamp was pressed half down
I will not press it again
Close the binder now

Old clerks left a mark
Ghosts of help upon the page
We pray to the smudge

Watermark is skewed
Call the audit council now
Printer has rebelled

We reviewed the trace
It was deemed too light to see
Box returns to vault