joints reaching out at birth
mothers with their silently clenched fists
all fingers and thumbs
learning to read
learning to write
comforting hugs
with hands of love

the hands of time
edging ever closer
second by second
into the future
into an unknown fate

those immature hands
now the hands of a mother
the hands of a lover
the new hands of another
those mature hands
never cease to grow tougher