Hands Touching Hands

Matt Alspaugh

I invite you to rise in body or in spirit, and join hands with your neighbors.

Hands touch hands.
These hands you hold now, once held _________’s hands.
Hand by hand we touch those who are here with us, and those who are no longer with us.
And hand over hand, we touch all of humanity.

Let our hands touching hands remind us:
________ is no longer with us, but she* is in us.
She* touched us, she is in our memories, she* is in our stories, she* is in the way we move through the world.
Let us go into the world and joyfully carry _________ with us in our hearts.

*Please use the most appropriate pronoun.

Against a wall painted with blue sky and white clouds, a hand loosly clasps sand, which is trickling out between the person's fingers.