His Hands

 His hands - large, capable

and shapely - always bring 

to mind Michelangelo's 

Sistine Chapel ceiling, the

electric exchange of life

between two figures; one

mortal, the other divine.

That touch, its divine effect,
familiar to all those who
exchange emotion, trust and
faith in each other.  Those
hands obeying the mind and
spirit, lovingly extend arms
to embrace and to comfort.

Those hands, rough and
calloused when the need is
there, firmly guiding a saw,
confidently leading a hammer,
gently moving a sable-tipped
brush on a painterly landscape
to exquisite completion.

Hands that joyously lift 
children in exuberant play,
paddle canoes down swiftly
running rivers, gently plant
saplings in spring, and carefully
cup small brown toads from
harm's way, enrapture me.