Each stanza in "Hand 2 Heart" starts with a single word, Pain, Peace, Torture, Joy, Love, and then shows how the same feeling can look completely different depending on who is living it. The first stanza is about caring deeply for someone who doesn't care back. The second flips to the other side: being loved so faithfully that you can simply enjoy it. The third returns to the heartbroken speaker, watching the woman he loves laugh with another man. The fourth turns sharper, describing a girl who accepts a loyal boy's kindness, then leaves him for his old friend and treats his heart like a toy.
The final stanza pulls it together. Love is "wonderfully special," yet it gives one person joy and laughter and another person pain. The mood is bitter and aching, with a note of resentment. The speaker seems to feel that love is unfair, and that those who give the most are often hurt the most.