How A Lifetime Is Measured
Her pace is slow
She shuffles across the floor
Hand-knit slippers dust the boards with every slide
Snug in her armchair she savours yesteryear
as she would homemade cherry pie
as she would homemade cherry pie
Sit a spell
witness her transformation
witness her transformation
Her aged hands reach for her wands
Two metal sticks to conjure
Yarn dances merrily
it is under her spell
it is under her spell
Shapeshifting to your amazement
She knits away the years
Memories loop together
She recalls, herself, a soon-to-be mother
She recalls, herself, a soon-to-be mother
knitting a layette in sunshine yellow
Dreams of her baby dancing merrily
keeping time with the clicks of the needles
And still further back
Her betrothed, Johnnie--straight and tall
marched off to war
as she knit in khaki green
a prayer for his safety in each stitch
marched off to war
as she knit in khaki green
a prayer for his safety in each stitch
lover letters tucked into the parcels she sent
And she recalls
as if it were yesterday
sitting at her grandmother's knee
taking the offered needles
knitting her first stitch
And she recalls
as if it were yesterday
sitting at her grandmother's knee
taking the offered needles
knitting her first stitch
Needles, skeins, stitches--her life is measured in these
Revised: June 3, 2021, I've been working on this poem for ten years.
