Analysis of Hands

Tash Stevens 1972 (California)



What is life, …Dad?

Life…is made up
of all the hands that we hold.
Those we touch
from when we’re one second of a day old.
till the instant dark creeps in through our eyes
and turns our dreams cold.

what does that mean?
Smiling!

There are
ones we hold…for eternity,
albeit loosely,
while others
I cling to, for the life of me.
Most we grasp
to learn from them what we can.
Then there are hands
that we hold on to so tightly
the nail beds in our fingers turn white.
The toxicity
that prevents us from being our own light.
“Let go!”
A voice screamed from the shadows!

The hand that falls silent
and out of breath. And, in their last whisper
encouraging to be self reliant.

The hand that balls our first fist
in outlandish defiance.
Our ignorance
quelled in the cupped hands
of our elders.
Like the Sage of a tree,
a grandfather’s
voice is heard
through his finger T.I. P.

That first hand we met
and fell in love with.
Full of juvenile intentions.
The feeling inside
only our hand could describe it.

What fun most are,
while others we hold for tears.
And some,
we know how they feel
though having not felt theirs for years.

The father’s hand
that made us feel safe.
His fingers intertwined with mine, reminding us, that we are brave.

The hand
that holds us up straight,
the father figures, the role models the ones never letting us stray.
The hand that grabs hold of mine, while speaking the words,
“Now let us pray.”

let me show you how Day
can dawn in your eyes by looking above.
The song that love
plays through the hands
of our loved ones.
The soft clench of trust.
The spools of smiles unwind widening our love.
Now! that’s clutch.

But,
it’s the edge…of finality,
when a new beginning speaks,
to the end of my time.
I want your hand in mine.
Not heavy, just light.
Let me see you through your eyes
Let our hands touch one last time.
And without a sigh,
with a final smile,
in my very last breath,
I will say
I gave you my very best.


Scheme X XABACA XX DEEFEXXGEHEHXX IXI XJJGFEFXE XXKXX DXXXX LXX LXMXM MNNGKXNB XEXOXHCOXXXMX
Poetic Form
Metre 1111 1111 1101111 111 1101101011 10101101101 011011 1111 10 11 11110100 01010 110 11110111 111 1111111 1111 11111110 0110101011 00100 10111101011 11 011101 011110 0111001110 0100111010 01111011 0010010 10100 10011 11010 101101 010 111 111011 11111 01011 11100010 01001 101011011 1111 1101111 01 11111 11011111 0101 11111 1100011101011111 01 11111 01010011001101011 011111111001 1111 111111 1101111001 0111 1101 11011 01111 011101100101 111 1 10110100 1010101 101111 111101 11011 1111111 11011111 00101 10101 011011 111 1111101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 2,036
Words 455
Sentences 40
Stanzas 12
Stanza Lengths 1, 6, 2, 14, 3, 9, 5, 5, 3, 5, 8, 13
Lines Amount 74
Letters per line (avg) 20
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 124
Words per stanza (avg) 31

About this poem

This writing was originally taken from a letter I wrote to my daughter when she was just a little girl in response to her question, “What is life?”

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Written on October 10, 2022

Submitted by Stephan.tashoff on July 27, 2023

2:16 min read
44

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    "Hands" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/165862/hands>.

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