his hands

do you find balding men attractive because of me
my father's question illicits my laughter and surprise
you know it's the whole freud thing, he counters
i've always found women who look like my mother attractive

and while i laugh off his comment
assuring him i have no special feelings for balding men
my gaze wanders down to his hands
thick and rugged yet somehow soft

i could have told him it was his hands

those hands that look built to hold an axe
the cracks filled with dirt that can never be washed off
never mind that he's baldling
he has your hands dad

those firm capable hands
that seem as though they could lift anything
including my very self
those hands with fingers so wide
it hurts to intertwine them with mine

i met a man with your hands dad
and i knew he was the one