Friday, January 15, 2016

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!

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5 comments:

Jime said...

What a beautiful poem Vicki. Thanks for revisiting it. Who wrote it? Surely someone with seamstress abilities.

Vicki Lane said...

It's mine -- as is the crazy quilt piece.

Deanna said...

Love the vision of the layers and changes of the years this brought to mind. Thank you for sharing this again. I missed it the first time.

Janna Zonder said...

I love this poem, Vicki! Love how you use all the sewing terminology, and the references to nature. "Ruby of my own heart's blood and the "Joseph's coat," - all of it so rich in your life experience. You inform all your writing with authenticity. Thanks for sharing it!

GPearson said...

Thank you. This is beautiful.