Engraved Mark

Character. There’s a word.
Can be a compliment.
That one has character.

Left-handed compliment.
You’re such a character.
Can play marionette—

The author’s characters.
Adjective. Character
Study. And then, somehow,

It can be sign itself,
The transcribed face of words.
Poem in four characters.

Steep cliffs in retirement.
Combine them. Character
Study of snowy cliffs,

Sages in retirement,
Stoical and solemn
But kind. Such characters.