Thay’s Poetry / For Warmth and In My Two Hands

This healing poem “For Warmth” was written by Thich Nhat Hanh during the Vietnam war.

He said, this was written after he heard about the bombing of Ben Tre and the comment made by an American military man, “We had to destroy the town in order to save it.”

Betsy Rose set this poem to music in a song called “In My Two Hands.”

For Warmth

By Thich Nhat Hanh

I hold my face in my two hands.
No, I am not crying.
I hold my face in my two hands
to keep the loneliness warm—
two hands protecting,
two hands nourishing,
two hands preventing
my soul from leaving me
in anger.