Amanda's Left Hand, on the Guitar

The way she watches her hand
as it frets the strings is the way
I imagined, when I was a child,
that God watches us. He watches
with eyes that don’t seem to see,
filled with whatever love it was
that moved him to create.
They are eyes that look into
the song sung more than
into our single bodies crawling
up and down the neck of the world.

I notice that when the song is easy
she looks out into the room....
This is the song for us, the song
that’s there to make us smile.
Our smiles are for the song.
There are days that come to us
like gifts given out of simple
convenience. There are many like this.

When the song is difficult,
she looks only at her hand....
When you are watched this way,
the song is yours. You stop
what you’re doing and move
the way the eyes seem to want
you to move. When you are
the song, the song is not for you.
The song is for the song and if
you are in it, you sing, you play,
and when its over, you close
your eyes and breathe a new breath.