Other Hands

Wooden handles worn with age

Brushes, hammers and chisels 

Blackened metal thinned to

Near transparency.

 

Red rusted toolboxes

Levels, joiners, and drill tips

Dipped in oil and respect

Old co-patriots

 

These tools were meant for other hands

Not mine.

 

Hard palms cracked and callused,

Yellowed dusty fingernails 

Knuckles knotted by time

Uncompromizing

 

Dressers, door frames, lamps

Cherry, oak and yellow pine 

An entire house now stands

In testimony

 

These gifts were built by other hands

Not mine

 

Walnut buffed and smooth

Velvet, brass, and roses red

Just another empty box

Mute and meaningless

 

Daughter, grandsons, wife,

Nephews, friends and minister

Gathered in his name

Reduce decades to minutes

 

Those words were said for another man

Not him.