Quilts

    （for Sally Sellers）

    Like a fading piece of cloth

    I am a failure

    No longer do I cover tables filled with food and laughter

    My seams are frayed my hems falling my strength no longer able

    To hold the hot and cold

    I wish for those first days

    When just woven I could keep water

    From seeping through

    Repelled stains with the tightness of my weave

    Dazzled the sunlight with my Reflection

    I grow old though pleased with my memories

    The tasks I can no longer complete

    Are balanced by the love of the tasks gone past

    I offer no apology only this plea：

    When I am frayed and strained and drizzle at the end

    Please someone cut a square and put me in a quilt

    That I might keep some child warm

    And some old person with no one else to talk to

    Will hear my whispers And cuddle near