If money were time, I’d be cheap as hell,
For all earthly treasures I’d never sell.
For a rainy day,
I’d squirrel it away
From avaricious eyes - in a nutshell.
I would treat minutes as a pricey bill,
I would ration heirloom hours better still.
As it flies away
I would seize the day,
Scratch and save each fleeting year if you will.
In a piggy bank every sec I’d store,
I’d invest every moment, some and more.
I’d spend the last “dime”
On my precious time,
I’d live Here and Now like never before.
Look what you have done to my shoelaces, Fluffy!
Now that's hardly a nice thing to do.
There are things in this world, from a twig to a bone,
that are more admirably suited to chew.
I don't wish to be hypercritical, Fluffy.
You might easily have done something worse,
but there are things in this world, which, not done up,
lead one all too soon to a hearse.
A stitch in time saves nine,
If you deal with problem;
You act right now than wait,
To avoid the mayhem.
Spend little time to solve
The puzzle or trouble;
Better look for result,
Don't delay, reach your goal.
Hit the mark precisely,
Wasting not the moment;
Each second passes by,
Always be diligent.
Things will get bad or worse,
If you do it later;
It will take more effort,
It will take much longer.
Today is important
To do the job so fine;
Linger not every day,
A stitch in time saves nine.
Today, like all the rest, is a time of devotion to minor goals.
Each small task, started and finished, is one more piece added
to life's patchwork pattern. Some pieces are big and bold, full
of color; others are tedious and filled with intricate designs;
others are only tiny, almost indistinguishable lines stitched
across a massive cloth.
But, all are part of a master design. And, when all the minor
goals are finished and joined to each other, life has drawn to
a close -- so that life's end is the final creation --
the finished product.
A STITCH IN TIME
A stitch in time saves nine
It also works in just four lines
So ends the length of my little rhyme
I think four lines will work just fine
7 June 2018
For the contest sponsored by Silent One
Sewing machine, long idle, gathered dust
In a house where a maiden's dreams were crushed
An open seam forever left impaled
Discolored remnants of a wedding veil
Beneath a stitch in time that came too late
A silver needle sewed her final fate
A blushing bride she never was to be
A spinster was to be her destiny
The war years seemed like only yesterday'
As I gazed on the ruins and disarray
A mildewed wedding dress that stood in wait
Beneath layers of soggy tattered lace
Then beneath the leaking roof and fallen beams
I heard the humming of that old machine
As she tried to mend the dream that fell apart
The candle sputtered, spent, and all was dark
Author: Elaine Cecelia George
A stitch in time saves nine
But a stitch in your side ain't fine
Hurts like hell
Bad words you expell
Bend over in pain while guzzling wine
© Jack Ellison 2015
There was a young girl on Long Bay
Her swim shorts began to show fray
Rip spread up the seam
I thought I would scream
When chubby cheeks went on display!
May 4, 2015
~1st Place~
Contest: Proverbial Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Margarita Lillico
Judged: 02/26/2023
Proverb Chosen: “A Stitch in Time Saves Nine”
A Stitch In Time
~1st Place~
Contest: Dumb and Dumber Personal Quote
Sponsor: John Freeman
Judged: 06/18/2015
~3rd Place~
Contest: Traditional Limerick
Sponsor: Viv Wigler
Judged: 04/12/2018
The 'stitch in time' notion has been current in English for a
very long time and is first recorded in Thomas Fuller's
Gnomologia, Adagies and Proverbs, Wise Sentences and
Witty Sayings, Ancient and Modern,
Foreign and British, 1732
A Stitch in Time
My jeans are beautiful; patterned with grace.
They are signed by the stars, in every place.
The drawings embroidered for one and all to see,
Are entered in a craft contest, but is there only me?
Each stitch is placed-exactly so,
The colours fantastic, some seem to glow.
The contest was for originality,
With craft-work so beautiful I prayed it was me.
Twenty years they had taken from being a girl,
I embroidered every French knot split-stitch and curl.
With plain stitches and chain stitches, each exactly the right size,
I entered them hoping I would win the big prize.
I picked up the phone it was the judging day
“Hello you have won” is what they did say.
Your jeans are fantastic we want to keep and display
The work you have put in for this contest today.
My jeans took pride of place on the wall in the room.
My heat beat so loudly; I thought I would swoon.
My twenty years of sewing to keep myself sane,
Through surgery and physio, to help with the pain.
They had won me an accolade I’ll never forget,
My jeans hung and photographed, and it was just for a bet.
Unpacking means to put away, I’m closing doors: forgetting,
And so that case expires, sits, retires on the floor.
A forgotten mess of fabrics lies beneath the surface letting
A flood of hand-spun memories drag me, drown me all the more.
Although I only see you now through misted screens and pictures,
A thousand crystal remnants tumble out when my eyes close.
A week long thread of subtleties lies woven in the mixture,
A second’s worth of secrecy lies dormant on my clothes.
Cotton, denim, zips and bows remember where your hands were placed,
A shadow which I cannot bring myself to wash away.
Unravelling doesn’t bother me; I know your stitch can’t be erased,
And so, my case remains untouched, as always, just for one more day.
If you wait, it may be too late……………………...........A
Simple thought to make that…...………………........STITCH
An action which, wisdom proves not to hesitate...IN
Dealing with a problem large or small…………........TIME
Is of the essence needed to capture, as it.…….....SAVES
Future toil and trouble eight times out of..…….....NINE
For Dane Ann Smith-Johnsen's "End Line Word" contest.
I hope I did it correctly.
A stitch in time
My life passed
I saw eternity
And I was with you at last
You passed away long ago
I thought that was the end
Like a marvelous dream,I saw your face
And I remembered the taste of your skin
You put your hands upon me
I remembered how it was
When we would make love until dawn
When you'd send flowers"just because"
I recalled the moment that I trembled
At the touch of your soft fingertips
I heard those long lost whispers
That rolled off of your remarkable lips
But as quickly as it came,my time with you ended
It vanished with the tide
Tears of joy rushed down my skin
For a moment,you were again by my side
A stitch in time gave me an unexpected hope
I now know that when this life is through
This rocky journey will finally come to an end
And I will come home to you
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.