Mend My Life

A re-post from 2008 --- 

From a writers' workshop. We were given the line 'Mend my life' . . . 


Mend my life;
Make it holy -- wholly new and newly whole.
Transform this ragged garment
(Wretched skein of tatter, rag, and bone)
To fuller, finer garb.
Stitch it more seemly, seam on shining seam;
Gusset it, gather it, pleat and placket it,
Tailor it to me: take in, let out,
Till it’s a fit and fashioned fit for wear.

Now, bind up the edges, trim the hem
With scissored strips from faded finery
Long laid by in memory’s lavender:
Whispering satin, rustling silk, a silent span of mole-soft velvet:
Embroider and embellish it
With threads of songs and spider breath.
Pluck colors from creation’s wealth:
Steal sapphire from the sea and sky; beg emerald from the trees;
Take ruby of my heart’s own blood to set the work aglow.

Then when it’s done, spread wide the Joseph’s coat
And cover my naked, broken self with – aah! – Beauty.
O, mend my life!