By: Rob Walker

State: SA

Country: AUstralia

MY BROTHER'S HANDS

Tiny newborn hands.
Micronails
Perfect.

Not five, I remember
after your birth
Mum's belly
Shrank.

My hands grew large.
square slabs of meat
with long skewers.
Walker genes

. Yours never caught up.
Shorter, fatter. Softer.
Bunches of pork sausages.
Eldridge genes.

Our nailbitten hands grew together.
Tickled, wrestled, wrote, punched, caught tadpoles.
Yours adeptly coaxed music from a clarinet
Turned wood to objects of beauty
Crafted exquisite jewellery
Dextrously restored motorbikes
Took photos, scanned graphics, printed images
Brushed Gail's hair.
Cuddled daughters.

When the tumour came
They lay idle.
Fidgeted
Spasmed involuntarily.

In High Dependency
I held the hand acting out your hallucinations
To stop you tugging at the drip mainlining drugs & antibiotics through your
collapsing veins
to your vulnerable brain.
And to give strength to you.
And me.

In your dream, you saw my hand as Gail's.
Kissed, patted it reassuringly.

The last day.
I held your lifeless hand
Cold, still soft. Your skin sweatless and waxy
Stretched over a skeleton's metacarpals
Sleeping hands of an artisan
Which can no longer hold your children, will never hold grandchildren.
Hands which lost grip on an uncompleted life.
Forty two year old
hands.


Copyright © Rob Walker 2000

Send private comments to author: walker5@one.net.au


Comments: Poignant and powerful ... this is excellent

. Name: RhymeMaster
EMail: rhymer01@thewritersnook.com


Comments: A truely lovely tribute Rob...moving and wonderful.

Name: Ed Allen
EMail: eallen553@aol.com


Comments: I cried, its a beautiful tribute. Thank you for sharing

Name: Lynda Brezigar
EMail: valkyrie@optushome.com.au


Comments: You have created a powerhouse of emotion in this poem.

Name: phattkat
EMail: phattkat@excite.com


Comments: So close to the bone for those of us who share sorrow. Thank you

Name: Fran Sbrocchi
EMail: naisburi@mail.iinet.net.au


Comments: at first i thought what a wonderful tribute as a brothers love then as i read further your powerful words gave me goose bumps
and it really touched me what a beautiful way to describe your brothers personality and waste of a wonderful life

Name: jaden
EMail: jaden@austarnet.com.au


Comments: Hi Rob - I reckon there's not beter way to deal with our griefs than to shape them into something creative to share with others. Thankyou.

Name: Dianne
EMail: bodein@camtech.net.au


Comments: This was a well written piece.

Name: TeAnne
EMail: yeletah@yahoo.com


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