Hands of a Woman

Hands of a woman,
your finest tools may be,
To serve, to mold, to cherish,
God’s humanity.
Heart of a woman, beat with loyalty,
With love and sympathy,
To fire the sparks of life for God’s eternity.
Soul of a woman, radiate sorrow,
With courage and faith,
To lift above today, God’s tomorrow
(1945)

Judging by the way this poem was first scribbled January 2, 1945, in pencil on the back of a tattered envelope, mom jotted this poem down quickly. She crossed through three words and blotted out four lines, then later revised it and entered it into her notebook in ink on June 8. This is a clear statement of her sense of her own feminine identity and her role in God’s eyes. She sees herself, all women, as having been given gifts “to lift above today God’s tomorrow,” that is, to use for God’s ends, not her own. Her view of her hands as “tools” to shape God’s humanity, her heart as a source of warmth, loyalty and nurturing, and her soul as a source of courage and radiance to light the way, gives three powerful positive images of her sense of who she is, who all women are all over the planet, and what her and their purpose in life is.

I don’t think she ever veered from this center point of her existence, for even on the day before she died, as Asako and I sat with her in the afternoon sun, in the rose garden of the Armenian home in Fresno, she looked up and saw a bird flying against the blue sky far above the eucalyptus trees waving in the wind and grabbed my hand. She fixed her eyes on mine and squeezed my hand tight in the way she did when she wanted to get your attention and teach you something. She was predictable that way. You knew she was in her “molding" mood. She then spoke of the bird as a messenger from God watching over her, as she had several times, saying the bird had followed her from our backyard on Fedora Street and perched often on the branches outside her window looking in on her. She lived this poem out, literally, her soul always radiating, lighting, lifting, brightening, never burdening or weighing heavy on anyone at anytime. This poem is her philosophy of life.