Lyric

My hands woke before my face

Like they had somewhere to go

They opened around the morning

And closed around the load

I held the door, the bag, the room

The part that might fall through

I caught the edge of other lives

Before they asked me to

My fingers knew the quiet work

Of keeping something still

A glass, a coat, a tired voice

A silence on the sill

Hold it steady

Do not let it fall

Hold it steady

Even when it is not yours

The weight moved through my shoulders

And settled in my wrists

I carried things without a name

And made a life of this

My palms grew hard around the shape

Of what I never said

I learned to lift with both my arms

And lower down my head

Hands made for holding weight

But not for holding all of it

I kept the falling things in place

And lost the shape of what I missed

Hands made for holding weight

They did what they were told

But even steady hands can ache

From everything they hold

I used these hands to cover

The cracks in someone’s day

To pull the chair, to lift the box

To keep the dark away

But sometimes in the mirror

They looked strange to me

Like hands that learned the weight of love

But not how to receive

Hold it steady

Do not let it fall

Hold it steady

Even when it is not yours

What if letting go

Was not the same as leaving

What if I could loosen

One thing I kept believing

I do not have to carry

Every shape that leans

Maybe my own body

Has been waiting to be seen

Hands made for holding weight

But not for holding all of it

I kept the falling things in place

And lost the shape of what I missed

Hands made for holding weight

Maybe mine was one of them

Maybe these arms can turn around

And hold myself again

My hands are still here with me

Open, tired, warm

Not empty when they release

Not useless when they rest