Every Tiny Stitch

Creating the canvas with silken thread Each day with different colours weaving On whitest linen in smallest stitches The complexity of life I’m living Red jelly and custard birthday parties a childhood spent in lonely play Crepe paper hats and satin costumes Kite flying on a windy day Sunshine yellow of early teen years Pop idol screaming in the park Hot pants, boas, and minis and maxis Cow bells, music, moon walks in the dark Shocking pink in early womanhood living dangerously on last tube home first job jitters, first date delights while family snaps to monochrome Rich dark purple of dreams destroyed Bleeding wounds traced in crimson thread Tear tracks, pills, and Empty purses Disillusioned, discarded, life filled with dread But then the scarlet of surrender The blush of finding first true love Warmth of babes, new lives beginning The tangerine joy of motherhood Now the lavender skein is needed As the empty phase begins How my coloured garden sows those Wild brown wrinkles on the skin The final years with wizened fingers forging murals bittersweet ‘til only the blackest thread remains the tapestry will be complete