I'll tell you something
I think you'll understand,
Then I'll say that something,
I want to hold your hand.
-J. Lennon & P. McCartney (1963)
A very slight meditation on hands:
L has very expressive hands; indeed, she is famous for her flying hands to punctuate whatever she is saying. I love watching her use her hands when she plays the cello.
My mother's hands were always painful for her. Her rheumatoid arthritis was a constant companion. Originally misdiagnosed, she suffered needlessly, but nonetheless continued her handwork as best she could throughout her life.
I like to think about the power of hands, especially when I'm using my flat, firm hands in yoga to hold myself up.
I started to think of all the phrases: a hand up; hold your life in your hands; hand out; a hand to hold; hands to work, hearts to God.
As I am typing this, I'm listening to Orlando Gibbons' O Clap Your Hands, sung by the group Chanticleer . . . a coincidence?
here is different group, singing it:
And another group; Happy Birthday to you, John:
Expressive pretty hands... Strong warm hands...
ReplyDeleteHands are important. I think they tell something about a person.
Whenever I hear of painful arthritic hands, I think of a nice sweet character in the Stephen King novel "Needful Things" who suffers so much with them.
Remember Mr. Uriah Heep in David Copperfield? He had slimy hands!
Hands, thank heaven for healthy hands. I read only moments ago that somewhere in Germany they transplanted hands, a left and a right one. The hero in John Irving's novel "The Fourth Hand" had a transplanted hand.
ReplyDeleteI speak with my hands, they say. It's what you do, after living in Italy for some years. I love beautiful hands.
I remember hands of my mother, every swelling in them, of my father and my grandfather, quite different evry of them.
ReplyDeleteThe hands are important,in many, many way.
beautiful! hands say so much about someone...and i can see your wee cat has won over your heart for sure! love xx janelle
ReplyDeletei have paws. i like frank.
ReplyDeleteLove the vids - both of them. wow, looking at the young Beatles is sobering. 1964 was a LONG time ago now.
ReplyDeleteSounds like the makings of a good future poem!
ReplyDeletedidnt the beatles sing this song in german too? it was weird. or maybe i just dreamt it in a nightmare.
ReplyDeletewonderful meditation on hands...
ReplyDeleteexpressive hands are made for asl - has L ever thought of picking it up. I love looking at hands while playing instruments ....and the cello particularly.
your mother's handwork probably helped with her RA even if she didn't realize it!
thanks so much for the tunes and also getting it in that it is john's birthday today....
They also did She Loves You in German.
ReplyDeleteI have a tic where I rub my finger and thumb of my left hand together. I've managed to make it ache.
Can't believe Lennon would've been 68 today. Saw an exhibit of his artwork when it came through CT a few years back, amazing stuff.
ReplyDeletelovely post
ReplyDeletemore than slight
I like this post very much.
ReplyDeleteMy hands... are exacty the same as my mother's hands.
And a cousin once said when meeting me for the first time that my hands were exactly the same as her grandmother's hands... her grandmother was my mother's sister.
A lovely meditation, lovley.
ReplyDeleteA few people have mentioned memories of their mother's hands. I always marveled at how lumpy and veiny my mother's were. Now I see that mine are beginning to look like hers. It softens the blow of aging.
ReplyDeleteThere's so much we take for granted. I'm grateful for the full use of my hands, my mother too has RA, but aesthetically they're not pleasing, too stubby. I love the photo of those graceful hands. It fits so well with the idea of meditation.
ReplyDeleteHave a pleasant weekend.
That first vid makes me long to sing in a choir like this. My church choir consists of me and one other guy (I sing bass, he tenor) and about five women. Kinda pathetic but I suppose our hearts are in the right place. Still, it would be nice to sing with a choir that was this good.
ReplyDeleteI would have read an extended musing on hands, even! Such a fascinating subject--what we use the most, that is nearest to us, and perhaps most taken for granted.
ReplyDeleteI'm here through Citizen of the World and am ever-so-glad I popped over. Your interests align with and pique mine! A Chanticleer reference, even, which makes me miss my voice professor father...and then yoga and hands and all good things.
I'll be back!
We forget, with how we depend on radio, tv, books and newspapers, how VITAL our personal communications are. We speak in shorthand and our hands are part of that, even with the name of it. Growing up in Oklahoma, we were so aware of the native american history - or I was. Holding the right hand up meant -- NO WEAPON so it was a sign of peace and engagement. We limit ourselves, I think, when we hold back on our hands, our facial expressions.
ReplyDeleteEmoticons aren't going to cut it in making our digital commmunications have that personal touch.
Loved your line of thinking, your links.
Nicely done..... ; )
ReplyDelete