It Was Alive, Though Differently

It had a secret name

which in later years came to mean

I will continue to stand here.

It had a food mouth and a shrieking mouth.

Popular wisdom indicated that 

Its hands could heat stones

and that a man 

could cook meat on those stones.

That being said,

It had a poverty hand and a riches hand.

They were the same hand.

A little ways above the hands

the mouths spoke together

but for two different reasons,

like the music was behaving

but the orchestra was broken.

Even in less benevolent moments,

It was known to use 

Its own body as a tent 

and as the gifts inside of the tent.

Early people said

 It had a mother hand

and a father hand, 

and that together  they made a clapping sound.

Its hands delivered the children from madness.

The hands saw the riverbank sliding

into the river

to make a more shallow river.

They scooped the mud up.

The hands were giving thanks.

The hands smelled like exodus.

The hands were the law.

One hand grew older, and the other hand younger.

They said, fairly often,

We’d like to try that again.

Both were restless and wanted rest.

One hand said, I will go where you go,

while the other hand continued on alone.

 Hannah Gamble