Left Hand Lament

The left hand is (we always say),
The demon devil's side
The left hand does the dirty work,
The shameful things we hide.

Judas kissed the left cheek of Christ,
It's Satan's special mark
There were no left footed animals
Allowed on Noah's Ark.

Left handed people are impure,
They go against the grain
Left handed children masturbate
And drive themselves insane.

I was born left handed
But the nuns where I went to school
They said it wasn't proper
And broke me like a fool.

Now that I'm right handed
Like I'm supposed to be,
I'm fine, really fine,
As fine as I can be.

But sometimes I get so low
Sometimes I get depressed
As though I lost a part of me
The part that knew me best.

My heart was true and loving
In the side that was my friend
But now it's gone and I'll never be
Completely me again.

My right hand fills my coffee cup
And shakes hands with dying aunts
My right hand finds my place in books
And waters all my plants.

But it never paints a picture
Or runs for president
My left hand might have done these things
If its' roots had not been bent.

Great things it might have done
Or nothing, I don't know
But my left, my lost, my natural hand,
My God, I miss you so.