The hand that signed the paper

The hand that signed the paper felled a city; / Five sovereign fingers taxed the breath, / Doubled the globe of dead and halved a country; / These five kings did a king to death. // The mighty hand leads to a sloping shoulder, / The finger joints are cramped with chalk; / A goose’s quill has put an end to murder / That put an end to talk. // The hand that signed the treaty bred a fever, / And famine grew, and locusts came; / Great is the hand that holds dominion over / Man by a scribbled name. // The five kings count the dead but do not soften / The crusted wound nor pat the brow; / A hand rules pity as a hand rules heaven; / Hands have no tears to flow.