One Fold Opens Another

The sheet grows smaller in the hand
when its edges meet.
A ridge, a valley,
then another ridge:
the surface gathers itself
without a sentence being chosen
over another.

A shorter account makes choices.
It holds what was selected.
The rest needs somewhere
to remain.

You have asked for the work to travel lighter,
with a way back
to the records it came from.
Keep that return possible.
A summary can guide the hand;
the source must still be there.

This is a task with an edge:
the project, its studies,
the songs and the changes
that belong to their making.
Other stories stay outside this sheet.

Across the folds, a date remains.
Across the date, a link.
The chain should lead
to something that can be opened,
not merely to another promise.

The music continues beside the records.
Its words still need their own hearing.
A smaller bundle cannot settle
what the ear has yet to check.

Fold with care.
Keep the whole where it can be found.
When the next question comes,
let the archive open
wider than its summary,
like a small square
giving back
the long reach of the sheet.