Finger Painting

Everything she touches
has the look of being tarnished.
Wall paper browns,
tables crack,
dust piles up,
and lips chap.

Everything she touches
appears almost tainted.
Hair tangles,
clothing tears,
flesh bruises,
and chests ache.

The contrast felt between the difference
of her absence and her presence
like the revelation given with the first bar of soap.
How could one have known their own amount of filth
if they hadn't ever been clean?
How dirty would you feel after that first cleansing touch?

She is dipped in fresh paint,
leaving a reminder on everything she touches
that it's long over due for a fresh coat.

Author's Note

The third stanza could probably do with just being erased, but without it I don't know how to express that this property unique to her is not a bad thing.