China Patterns

Lucille and I stand in her

Spode Maritime Rose pattern of my china,
which belonged to my Grandmother,
Bertha Arminta Taylor Keadle

dining room and sort through
her beautiful china patterns
choosing what we will use
for the Mother’s Tea, marveling
in turn this one or that – me oohing
and ahing genuine appreciation
for the colors and designs and
feeling the fine thinness of one
cup so delicate I fear to hold it
too long in these inelegant paws
as Lucille tells me of this auntie
and that cousin and another of the
sisters – gone – all long gone – who
left behind these marks of beauty
to be shared by women they will
not know in times they will not have
holding their treasures with hands
that touch, meet, only on the surface
of the beauty of their beloved things

I love china patterns