Hands Are

Hands Are

Hands are capable
of the most tender touch
or the jarring impact of a fist;
of garrulous greetings
or grievous good-byes,
of marvelous medicine
or Machiavellian murder,
of pious prayer
or predatory pedophilia,
of love or larceny,
of rejoicing or rejection,
of praiseworthy Art
or its populist substitutes,
of releasing figures from stone
or bashing men to death with rocks,
of giving man wings for flying,
or tearing them off angels.

Simians have hands too,
but the gods denied them
the blessed cognition necessary
to drive race cars
and use Glocks.

Glenn Buttkus May 2010