One of my mother’s doilies
rests now by my bed
awaiting its goodnight caress.
It is, in truth, a tacky little thing
of garish colors
knit square into a rainbow-like affair.
It is the sort of thing
I would have teased her on
had I seen it before she died.
She loved that, you know,
laughing out loud in my face.
A doily is a small ornamental mat or table napkin usually handmade of lace or linen. My mother was an insomniac and so had a penchant for making these during the many long nights she was up and awake.
Make no bones about it, it is a tacky little thing and I really would have teased her unmercifully over it if I had seen it before she died. And now…well, obviously now, it is one of my many small treasures. We collect them—small treasures—don’t we, as we grow older?
I hope something of my mother’s wonderful, vibrant and strong personality rings through this poem, although truth be it known, no words of mine could ever really capture her amazing vitality or strength of will.
It has been many long years since my mother’s passing in 1988, but still, I miss her, very, very much.
Thank you for reading The doily. I sincerely hope you have enjoyed it and I humbly appreciate your visiting the Book of Pain. As always, I look forward to your comments.
john
© 2013 by John Etheridge; all rights reserved. This poem and accompanying notes are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. This applies to all original work found on this site, unless noted otherwise. The attribution claimed under the license is: © 2013 by John Etheridge, https://bookofpain.wordpress.com.
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