HANDS
Inside a cave in a narrow canyon near
Tassajara the vault of rock is painted with hands,
A multitude of hands in the twilight, a cloud
of men’s palms, no more, no other picture.
There’s no one to say
Whether the brown shy quiet people who are
dead intended
Religion or magic, or made their tracings
In the idleness of art; but over the division
of years these careful
Signs-manual are now like a sealed message
Saying: "Look: we also were human; we had
hands, not paws. All hail
You people with cleverer hands, our
supplanters in the beautiful country:
enjoy her a season, her beauty, and
come down
And be supplanted; for you also are
human."
— Robinson Jeffers
(1887-1962)
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