Give me your hand

Give me your hand

A translation of my Afrikaans poem "Gee my jou hand"

give me your hand, show my your palm:

I want to navigate the rivers thereupon,

follow the salmon to the spawning waters,

anker my skiff at that fruitful place

where silver reeds dance like nymphs 

in the streams under the fullest full moon; 

take my hand as sacrifice:

burn it on the altar of your heart

and let the incense vine upwards

towards that faraway secret lair

from where muses pigeon myths

to scribe and stonemason;

let’s hold hands like old and your lovers:

for whom clasped hands are an embrace,

for whom interlaced fingers are lustful bodies,

for whom holding hands is a covenant—

let our skin bacteria shake hands,

explore each other, know each other, and cross-pollinate.

... Sanko Lewis