Retired Hands, Working Mouth

When my hands retired,
I learned to lift things
with my mouth. 

Why bother, said
my friends?  You know
you’ll drop them, leave them
lying around, and give up entirely
after a while.

It’s good for me, for all of us,
I replied — I let my hands
work hard all my life
and let my mouth run free
and lazy, talking up stupid things
and adding nothing to society.

Now I have to think — how to bite
and hold, how to raise weight,
how not to break teeth and tear lips
and gums…and of course,
far less needs to be said,
or even can be.

I’m committed to this, I continued.
I’ll give my hands a rest, they deserve it,
I’ve abused them so, and as for the dropping
and eventually giving up —
well, that would have happened
anyway, someday; and isn’t it
nice to have the quiet?