1.
On a far away island in a vast ocean
Where boulders cropped up overnight
And streams of fire flowed down the sides
Of the big mountain in its centre
Lived people as ancient as the very ocean
As advanced as any that ever appeared on earth.
A fisherman had two beautiful children, Jim and Jenna, who were
As cheerful and curious as merry wives.
One day, they left their hut on hearing
A distant melody beckoning and calling.
They followed the notes as far as they could
Into the woods, for prodigious hands must
Be playing all those musical tones in several ranges, and they were enticed.
At twilight, they came upon the piano in the glade
Where nobody played, yet music flowed
More heavenly and alluring than before.
The children sat in front of the piano
And cried out of inexpressible emotion.
2.
After a while, Jenna stood up and went
To the playing piano.
She put her hands on its keys
As she intended to try them.
As soon as she did so, the piano gave
A sharp screech, and the lid closed down
At once, chopping off the girl's hands.
Her brother was so scared that he ran back
Home, leaving her to fend for herself.
Her tears were clear rivers streaming down her cheekbones, and kept her wounds clean.
She gathered her hands in her arms as best
As she could and ran to the ocean.
There she bathed and asked the ocean
To heal her and put her hands back in their place.
3.
When she came out of the waters
She had silver hands: her own
Had been swallowed by the waves.
Wherever she went, she begged
With her silver hands and people
Were taken back. How come
A beggar has silver hands, they thought,
She must be a liar and a swindler to boot.
So she had very little luck around the island
And was often hungry and rejected.
People had grown mean, forgetting
All compassion. To earn a piece of coconut
Or a small fish, she told her story again and again.
That was the way she learnt to tell stories
To entertain.
4.
Many moons went by.
On a clear chilly night, a shiny woman came
As Jenna leaned against an oak.
She was more luminous than the moon
And the stars in the sky,
And her emerald eyes shone like
Jewels in the moonlight.
She looked soft and sad at the same time.
I have come to ask for your help
And help you to help yourself.
Jenna listened in silence with a nod
And the shining woman went on.
I heard you can tell stories that move the waves
And bind the winds. Come and tell
My dying father a story that will make him die at peace.
If you do, you can ask me anything.
Jenna laughed a bitter laugh
There was nothing anyone
Not even a shiny woman
Could do to give her back what she
Wanted most: her natural hands.
Yet, I will come, she said, for I won't deny
A dying man a peaceful death.
5.
For a long time, they rode the silvery waves.
In the moonlight the waters looked like
A strange mirror animated with shapes
And presences Jenna could barely make out
But sense.
When they arrived at the misty rock
Where the shining woman dwelt
The old man's moaning was full of longing and regret.
As his daughter whispered in his ear
And held his hand
Jenna started to tell the story of how
The stars came to be, and the dolphins
First played in the ocean on a pristine day.
The old man grew calm and soon
Fell in a deep sleep.
6.
At dawn, he had left, asleep in the eternal
Embrace of a peaceful death.
At length , Jenna fell asleep.
When she opened her eyes
The shining woman was throwing
Her silver hands back into the ocean.
Before Jenna could open her mouth
And despair, she felt a piercing pain in her wrists.
She closed her eyes and let go
For even without hands, she gave thanks.
And when she looked down
Her natural hands had grown back.
