Saturday, April 13, 2013

NaPoWriMo #8: love poem

Your Hands

I love
how your hands
are you
nails trimmed close
but not bitten to the quick
skin firm over tendons, muscles
palms and fingers calloused but gentle
a splash of freckles that would be
invisible on skin less pale
boyish on hands less capable

how they make
a meal, a poem, a home
how they fix
a book, a bike, a skinned knee
how they smell like soap
or sawdust
or sometimes
vanilla

how they tear apart, strip away
and create something better than before
how they throw a child into the air
and cradle him back to earth
how they fix what is broken
and wait for what cannot be fixed

how they are always moving
holding, healing
touching, teaching

how they warm me when I am cold
lift me when I have fallen
and open a jar of pickles
when my own hands fail me.

No comments: