The Message in Reverse

You scrape with a fingernail, a little at a time, the way you once peeled a label off a jar for a whole afternoon.

The ice comes off in curls. The words underneath are backward. Every letter faces the wrong way.

You hold the card to the dark glass of the freezer door. The reflection reads clean.

It says: I know you will do it this way. You always scrape. I wish you'd just warm it. Come to the light on the point.

You write down the word BACKWARD.

Your reflection finishes reading a second before you do.