Skein?

feel shade tangle

THREE WORD WEDNESDAY

We are asked to use the words

'feel, shade, tangle'

SKEIN?

Do you remember the skein, Miranda,

Do you remember the skein?

Do you remember a time, Miranda,

That will never come again?

I feel it now, the skein of wool,

Held, stretched but not too tight,

For it was always essential

To get the holding right.

Looped around ones helping hands

It had to be loose, yet steady,

And Mother always checked it first

To make sure I was ready.

Then came the rhythmic swaying,

First this way and then that;

The dipping up, the dipping down,

As, patiently, I sat.

I remember a certain shade of blue

My Mother liked to use,

And the pile of paper patterns......

Which one would she choose?

If the wool got in a tangle

The skein-holder was at fault!

For holding a skein was quite an art;

We all had to be taught.

And Mother's ball grew rounder

And fatter as she wound.

Disaster was always lurking!

It might drop on the ground!

Yes, in those days of long ago

Wool-winding was a chore

That every daughter inherited

From daughters gone before.

Before mechanisation,

Was really put in train,

All little daughters, such as I,

Were taught to hold a skein.

*

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                          Frans Moretlmans

An Arm And A Leg

(An Acrostic)

A Carpenter in days gone by

Never merely made a chair

*

Also included were extra 'limbs'

Representing, each, a spare.

Money was scarce in those far-off days

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And nothing was neglected;

Nothing was 'throw-away' back then;

Decades of wear were expected.

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As arms and legs might wear out first

*

Leaving the owner short

Each Carpenter supplied the spares;

(Greater profits, I'd have thought!)

*