Upon a Field of Quilts

With a field of quilts 

they were married

in the picture it’s a

mere background of

color but if you were

there – there, in the

picture, you’d see

the invitation written

in the fields:  Come 

lie with me and be

my love . . . come,

let us claim the fields

as our very own 

eternal ‘spanse of joy

life together amidst

the tender hands of

mas and grandmas

and aunts and cousins

stitching our life upon

the fields we inhabit

in our dreams

__________
For Casey & Justin Siron on their 2nd anniversary.  What a privilege it was to be there with you both amidst a field of quilts.  Blessings upon blessings for every year yet to come.

Quilt-Making God

Quilt-making God
who covers me with
a warmth I can scarce
take in with its complete
and completing embracing
of all found lying under these
many covers and layers

imagine how surprised I am
to find that You are there –
one of the layers, if not all
of them – embracing
warming
and warming to
covering
and uncovering

me
us
the all
of everything

in every stitch
we are made
and undone

in every pattern
we are found
and put in our place
[not in a bad way]

in every layer of the quilt
You have made 
and make
that is You

there are we
a part of the 
weave
the texture
of You

_______________
Last night I slept on the couch under the quilt I made when I was 18 or so for my parents’ wedding anniversary.  I have it now for some necessary repairs, which I’ve been slow to make.  I think I just like having it here, as I find myself thinking that I need more quilts.  There is no warmth, no comfort, like lying under the covering made so lovingly, stitch by stitch, by beloved human hands – save God.  For me, God’s love is much like that quilt, made with a thousand hands from the past guiding my inept fingers in the ways they should go.

A(nother) New Day

I love the potential of a new day – opening its sunshine welcome through the curtains – the promise of possibility like an infinite blanket of hope – small things come to mind mostly – maybe today I’ll finish the ironing – I actually like to iron – it’s pleasing somehow to press out the wrinkles and the smell of clean linens a bonus to the senses – maybe I’ll finally begin repairing the quilt I made for Mom and Dad more than 30 years ago – I am old enough to have created something now time worn – how well I remember my own pride at the gift when given – satisfied with what I had made passed down through my grandmother’s hands – maybe I’ll start walking again – it’s been too long – I will mail a letter that needs sending – maybe I’ll actually schedule that long-overdue hair appointment – that will feel like progress – I will look upon the mountains and be refreshed – their presence my comfort – I will listen to cat’s purr and smile benediction upon her contentment – maybe I will tick a few things from the list – my perpetual write-down of the next indicated things – or not – I will read – glad that I finally can again – leaving behind the tens if not hundreds of books begun and set aside – it’s a perfect laundry day – my only regret that I have no laundry to hang – so many roads spread out before me at the beginning of this new day – it matters not much which I take – for now – in this moment – the promise – the possibility – is enough and more than enough – and I am grateful – it is tomorrow and I am begun again.