Two Scarves
‘Hold this skein for me,’ and I do –
it brings back my skein-holding,
hands outstretched, thumbs up, long ago,
as mother’s boy, while she was winding
knitting wool, yet one ball more.
This one’s silk, many-coloured, for
a ‘Catherine Wheel’ scarf, crochet,
as in the booklet by my wife’s knee –
hour by hour it grows brilliantly
till soon her friend will take it, flying
to New York where her daughter
since a terrible street accident
is in rehab still. The other,
black knitted scarf was a gift before –
that very day she was wearing it
on the dark Brooklyn winter street.
While her daughter was in Emergency,
and then in prolonged surgery
her mother (flown from Melbourne) sifted
the smashed things she had with her.
From fragments of papers and shopping
she rescued the soiled torn scarf –
brought it home to Melbourne
for laundering and repair.
Tempting fate to give her another
for the rest of the New York winter?
Yet there should be magic in the web,
it’s beautiful and made with love.
Wednesday 11 February 2009
Max Richards
Doncaster, Vic, Australia
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