i could deliver a baby with these hands

when

i get home

i go down to the stone

sink

in the cellar

pull the string on the bare

light

above me

and scrub my hands with

a large

white bar

of Lava soap.

a grit filled rock like square.

have my hands ever been this

dirty before?

full of oil and grease,

paint

and caulking, dried blood,

of course they have.

but like a surgeon,

i scrub and brush at the skin,

i get under the nails,

i rub deep and hard, 

then rinse

until the fingers and palms

are pink

and raw. at last clean.

i hold them up

into the air as they dry,

as if they were

touched by God.

i believe i could deliver a baby

with these hands

if i had to.