Runes on the Parts of the Body

(Author's note: A "rune" in this context is a traditional Norse poetic form which can best be translated as "riddle".)



I.
You are upon me
and I, upon every
other thing, am the first
to move, first to be blamed
for earthy composition.
By me you are bound
to the earth, yet without me
you cannot move across it, or
leave it with a leap.

II.
Dextrous but sinister, I
lift up or destroy with equal ease.
Closed, I am a weapon;
open, a bowl to offer or receive.

III.
Shaded with flesh or falsehood, I
am not the window you might wish.
Matched with others, I am the root
and proof of love and hate,
solid in my rulership
but liquid in nature.

IV.
Engine, organ and eternal metaphor
accused, broken or swelled, I drive you
in both life and love,
My rhythm as necessary
as my imagined roles. Broken, I continue
but at peace, I cease.