My Daddy had big Hands, strong Hands with square fingers,
lines of the Nile River grooved atop each nail 
his palm held a secret story of a son, conceived with a first wife, yet never born

My Daddy had big strong Hands,
Hands that carried heavy Southern Pacific packages from trains to commerce,
Hands that lit candles to Our Lady and prayed to God in the light of St. Patrick’s Church
to protect his familia and insure his simple life be blessed and sustained

My Daddy had big Hands ~ Al Jolson singing “Mammy” Hands
that clapped and waved to the beat of his tap dancing feet,
Hands that could span an octave no problem as he played
“Dark Town Strutters Ball” ~ I’ll be down to get’cha in a taxi honey
Hands that clapped loud and hard to “Shave & a haircut two bits!”

These were laugh out loud Hands, creators of 1930’s caricatures
“Toon Town Extraordinaires”
Hands that sketched expressive story telling faces,
Kewpie doll eyes with long lashes ~ that seen more than their years

My Daddy had big Hands combed with lines NOLA palm readers would’ve had a field day trying to read

Hands born in the horse and buggy days
Hands witnesses of the Great Black Tuesday Stock Crash ~ 10-29-29

the first air flight and Ford’s motorized cars
His hands also pulled streetcar gears and saved metal & wires to survive 
The Great Depression

His Great Big Hands ~ planted and spoke to
Blue Ribbon elephant garlic,
A cloud scratching pine tree,
Grafted thornless blackberry bushes,
Delicious figs and basilica,
Tenderly touched baby pink rosebuds
&
rebelliously planted in the front yard
gorgeous red-orange opium flowers with black and blue gangster centers ~
like a good Sicilian just got’s to do!