Memory Quilt.......

Buried in an open box, behind a musty bookcase,
belonging to a woman alive a century past.
A long skinny mirror surrounded in carved wood,
broken glass on the floor, wood frame made to last.

A chest filled with long dresses, aprons to match,
feathered hats in hatboxes neatly arranged in a row.
Old button top shoes scraped and well worn,
small family photographs, many children in tow.

Patches of cloth remaining useless to most,
bundled together with no place to go.
Thick, thin, with silk, white lace, and fringe,
old nightgowns, shirts, baby blankets, all in a row.

Many different colors in multi designs,
pink, blue, yellow, orange, purple, and green.
Fabrics with stripes, plaids, stars, and flowers,
miniscule pieces of memories woven in between.

Wipe off the dust from the burlap bags,
each precious piece a story to unfold.
Cut squares and triangles, what to design,
with a cornucopia of dreams and wishes never told.

As with life, each stitch represents a breath,
from the very beginning through to the end.
Thread that glistens from teardrops shed,
each square, each triangle, approaching a bend.

Arranging the order into an unbroken spiral,
representing past, present, and future yet to appear.
Surrounded in swarms of solid colors that blend,
offering stability, resoluteness, and God to revere.

Another square, another triangle caressingly added,
but then this memory quilt, undone had to wait.
Hands became still, dreams and wishes unfulfilled,
now she watches from the doors of heaven's gate.

Buried in an open box, behind a musty bookcase,
belonging to a woman alive a century past.
A long skinny mirror surrounded in carved wood,
broken glass on the floor, wood frame made to last.

Written by:
Karen Palumbo
Photography by:
Robert Palumbo
3/16/2011 © All rights reserved