These Hands

Ok I have been asked by a few people (and even on this blog) to put this poem on. This is the poem I performed at the 2009 Reader's & Writer's Festival Poetry Idol. That was my first 'Big" performance so here it is:

These Hands

Tools of creation
Imprints in life’s memories
Abilities to build foundations
Rule above nations
And help others across busy roads

Used for public forms of affection
And block the gasps of mouths
Peek a boo never looked this sweet
Without these key players

Yet pessimists of these much needed ligaments experiment with what they can do/
These hands were never meant to bruise/
Never meant to abuse and to be used/
In ways that the same little ones that hold onto them are also held by them/
Shaken and taken away by them/led away instead of being led by them/

These hands were never meant to be murderous weapons/
Never were they to be the cause of cries but were to be wipers and cradles of tears/
Their touch was to bring comfort and safety/
Not uncertainty and fear/they were to be sturdy not unpredictable in its shape/
Life lines were not to be shortened on your hands due to the acts of mine/

These hands are made to write the stories of life/
To paint the backdrop of our futures/To illustrate love by being encircle with a ring of commitment
And to express emotions from the tip of a finger/

These hands can be the masterminds of mathematics/
Not the teachers of discipline/
One point can send species to follow a command/yet the hand itself sends three strongly back

These hands are the healers/the miracle workers of human existence
These hands are the first to bring in new and to bury deceased life/
The voice of an hearing impaired world/or the cornerstone of the blind/

With an identity place on every pair we leave our print for the world to remember
Are our fingerprints of these ligaments imprinted in people on these souls or on their throats/
Do they tell a story – or do they choke/do they yell out with emotion or bring emotions to screams/do they hush the room’s silence/or create the violence in scenes?

Only with these idle hands can they decide if they want to go wandering
These tools of gladness or distress
Key players to build or quick to undress
Rest folded reverently or outwardly to be scene

These are the possible personalities for these hands to be.