Little Yellow Hands Poem by Tony Jolley

'Yellow. … Little yellow hands', you said.

Geography of rivers of love
Flowing through palm plains
Formed of graft and grist;
Deep fjords cutting cleft to cliff
Your lifeline long,
Born of ever having your hands
Where your heart says they belong.

Traces of skirmishes past
Scored in a host of scratches and blemishes
Obstinately refusing to relinquish their remembrance in the flesh.

Little yellow hands.
Hands of a Far-Eastern dancer
Painting exquisite tapestries and histories
With such elegance and mystery.

Little yellow hands.
White gold, diamond hands,
Hands that hold the whole world in their thrall.

Little yellow hands:
Hands helping, holding,
Making, moulding;
Hands comforting, calming,
Soothing, stroking;
Hands blessing, bestowing,
Balming, booning;
Hands tending, tracing,
Gentling, gracing:

Your Little Yellow Hands.