I was among five poets asked to write a poem for the Geelong After Dark festival. Each poem was based on a different artefact from the Geelong Heritage Centre. My assigned piece was a Shepherd's smock from 1848 hand sewn by the mother of John Crook for his journey from England to Australia. He was one of the earliest settlers in the Barrabool Hills around Geelong.
That which preserves us ~
written word, resin turned amber,a photograph, a sprinkling of salt, a song, a simple shepherd's smock
Folds of time, weathered linen
sepia stained and ageing
A browning and a fraying at the edges
Imagination animates the empty sleeves
His shadows lengthen into present
Though flesh and blood have long become of dust
Can the touch of cloth translate into love
A mother dreams it so
A son borne into a land
as calloused as the palms of his hands
She weaves a love into his days
stitch by careful stitch
Fingers numb wending thread
An unforgiving fabric
This beloved toil is silent prayer
A chant her fingers sing
Repetition in the stitches
A feeling is intangible
but this... this is love made manifest
That which preserves us ~
Mothball scatterings, pervading scent of deterrent
The careful hand of generations
A wrap of tissue paper blue round treasures
deep in wardrobe recess
Bound in the knowing
That to touch a memory is something precious
Written by Kathryn Ross. May 2015
Copyright Kathryn Ross 2015
RSS Feed
