The speaker is speaking to someone whose hands she loves. She notices them closely: they are big and firm but gentle, with hair near the wrist and nails broken and stained from hard work. These are not perfect, decorative hands; they are working hands, and that makes them feel strong, real, and protective. When this person touches her, she feels herself grow small, quiet, and happy—a feeling of release, safety, and calm. She then imagines shrinking enough to curl up in the hollow of the left palm, lie close, cling, and stay there always, even if the person forgot she was there.
This fantasy is tender but also vulnerable. She longs for a kind of constant, hidden closeness, small enough to be carried and kept without needing attention. The mood is intimate and dreamy, with an undercurrent of longing and perhaps insecurity, because the speaker’s wish is not just to be touched but to remain permanently near someone who might not remember her.