Long Ago, Grandmother, By the Cross Stitched Orchards' Light

on winter afternoons we cross stitched the worlds
or would have if we'd had more thread
more colours! demanded my sister colouring

streadily as the sun coloured the late clouds
and we will watch the late late show
in black and white

only in your dreams says Grandmother
it's a school night
how the bluebirds take flight by the apple

trees in my crooked hooped stitching
will it turn out right anyway? I wonder
the cloth puckers and the roses too

and it's askew but I don't care
because there's snow crystals in the air
a scent ascending to the angels

this close to Christmas
we're at home
in the family circle

with every grace endued.

mary angela douglas 9 july 2017