You have cut the cloth
assembled the pieces
to make something useful
something that fits & adorns
You turn to the hem
– a womanly word
measured / tender/ strengthening
a word that needs breath
a soft outbreath
that ends
where the lips meet
You are bent to the task
in a trance of sewing
You fold & tack
the selvedge
stitch & trim
Just so
A threshold turned back
pressed
to leave a margin
a border
where cloth lies upon cloth
drawing a straight line
between something & nothing
I turn to you
wanting to fold back the years
with their creases
raw edges and loose threads
to lay the fabric of my dreams
upon yours
smooth the surface
stitch & trim
Just so
Stephen Boyce is the author of three poetry collections, Desire Lines (Arrowhead 2010), The Sisyphus Dog (Worple 2014) and The Blue Tree (Indigo Dreams 2019) and three pamphlets. He is co-founder of Winchester Poetry Festival and lives in north Dorset. stephenboycepoetry.com