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24 Apr 2024

Diana
Raab

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Full Moon

May 8th

Apr 8th

Our Hands

After Your Hands

by Pablo Neruda

                               When a handshake is firm it’s a sign 

                               of a good soul, said my father.

                               Beware of a limp handshake.


                               When you run your good hands up 

                               and down my body, I let it shake 

                               with simple joy.


                               And so I have closed my eyes, my love,

                               for six decades, to feel this even better,

                               as I turn away from the dark knowing


                               that one day it shall be no more.

Behind the poem...

Many of my poems are ‘after’ those by Pablo Neruda. This one, a response to Neruda’s Your Hands, was inspired by my father. He taught me how handshakes can tell us a lot about people. A strong handshake, he said, often meant a person was honest and trustworthy. Then again, it’s also true that different types of handshakes are simply due to cultural differences.

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