My Daddy's Hands | Teen Ink

My Daddy's Hands MAG

December 19, 2013
By Htriesta24 SILVER, Ormond Beach, Florida
Htriesta24 SILVER, Ormond Beach, Florida
6 articles 0 photos 0 comments

He sits in his chair.
The throne of the barren room; unavoidable.
His fingers push the buttons.
Hopelessly they obey,
forcing the TV to change.

Heavy– his fingers are rough and stained.
Life has taken its toll.
His hands like trunks of helpless trees
ripped from the ground after a fierce storm.
The screams from the buttons echo through the room.
His hands tell of a life I will never fully
understand.
They spew stories from every scar he
never forgets.

The gold band of the wedding ring catches my eye.
Glued to his skin, it resides.
Unmoved by love or simply because it
is stuck,
it hasn't moved in years.

Silence throws my thoughts off track.
The TV is quiet.
The buttons' cries have stopped.

He stands and leaves me alone.
The throne of the room sits empty; It
sits haunting.

Maybe the buttons were screaming because they felt his hands.
For a moment when he touched them
maybe they understood.
Maybe they saw behind the scars.
Maybe they felt the softness of his
old hands,
not the hands hardened and calloused,
but the ones who loved.

The ones who first touched his wife,
his baby boy – The hands that built a family.

No one understands his hands.
No one asks.

We see his scars.
They are unavoidable.
Our soft eyes beg him to tell the stories,
but sometimes words just aren't enough.

Maybe the language we speak just isn't enough to explain my daddy's hands.



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This article has 1 comment.


on Dec. 26 2013 at 8:50 pm
Peacemakerz PLATINUM, Cupertino, California
25 articles 2 photos 23 comments

Favorite Quote:
The world will never have lasting peace so long as men reserve for war the finest human qualities. Peace, no less than war, requires idealism and self-sacrifice and a righteous and dynamic faith.
-John Foster Dulles

Great poem! Leaves me wanting to know what happened to your dad's hands!