Thursday, July 19, 2012

Skein?

feel shade tangle

THREE WORD WEDNESDAY

We are asked to use the words
'feel, shade, tangle'

SKEIN?

Do you remember the skein, Miranda,
Do you remember the skein?
Do you remember a time, Miranda,
That will never come again?
I feel it now, the skein of wool,
Held, stretched but not too tight,
For it was always essential
To get the holding right.

Looped around ones helping hands
It had to be loose, yet steady,
And Mother always checked it first
To make sure I was ready.
Then came the rhythmic swaying,
First this way and then that;
The dipping up, the dipping down,
As, patiently, I sat.

I remember a certain shade of blue
My Mother liked to use,
And the pile of paper patterns......
Which one would she choose?
If the wool got in a tangle
The skein-holder was at fault!
For holding a skein was quite an art;
We all had to be taught.

And Mother's ball grew rounder
And fatter as she wound.
Disaster was always lurking!
It might drop on the ground!
Yes, in those days of long ago
Wool-winding was a chore
That every daughter inherited
From daughters gone before.
Before mechanisation,
Was really put in train,
All little daughters, such as I,
Were taught to hold a skein.
*
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                          Frans Moretlmans

An Arm And A Leg
(An Acrostic)

A Carpenter in days gone by
Never merely made a chair
*
Also included were extra 'limbs'
Representing, each, a spare.
Money was scarce in those far-off days
*
And nothing was neglected;
Nothing was 'throw-away' back then;
Decades of wear were expected.
*
As arms and legs might wear out first
*
Leaving the owner short
Each Carpenter supplied the spares;
(Greater profits, I'd have thought!)
*


2 comments:

Old Egg said...

With just two boys in the family even we were roped in to the task! That is not true, my brother tended to disappear when new skeins of wool came into the house. Loved it.

Sheilagh Lee said...

love these two poems. The first brings back memories of my grandmother the second of my Dad.