BLACK BUTTERFLY

 POETRY, PROSE AND PAINTINGS

                  Quilting

                  Lacking another diversion,

                  he takes a book of her poems,

                  while she sits quietly quilting,

                  threading the needle with her tongue

                  an aid to accuracy,

                  lost in a sea of multi-coloured

                  bits and pieces.

                  In the book he reads

                  her life before he knew her,

                  before he saw her fragile eyes

                  her soft smile.

                  On the white pages

                  he understands her fortunes

                  and misfortunes

                  as silently she

                  makes the chaos order.

                  His fingers flick the pages

                  where she has made her life

                  an open book.

                  Here are those she loved and lost

                  before she opened his eyes

                  to her love,

                  before she warmed his heart

                  and stitched their lives together.

                  Quietly and secretly

                  he looks at her

                  to see that she is looking at him.

                  They smile, assured in their love,

                  not wasting the precious moments

                  of their togetherness.

                  While he reads

                  and she sits

                  quietly quilting.

                  © 2005 Chrissy M-H