Patchwork

Written for a friend. 

You took tears and sewed them up                                
Each thread you felt and knew
In the conversation, looking over
To the words I spilled
In a foreign pub
Your eyes were gentle.

You sewed understanding like a quilt
I watched you midst a clash of folk
Music for the heart I kept
- Then you sent poetry you’d wrote.

In your words the quilt was thick
Warm, ran through like speech
You opened thought
I remember in the following weeks
We met, took tea. You spoke of hope.

Those hands, following the quilt
You wrapped round many – shivering, cold
Giving experience as a patch each time
As quick as breath - the quilt would grow.
In the library, up the steps, you carried
Even when the material dragged
For you’d mapped the year like a picnic blanket
Where we sat, day-drenched ... and laughed.

The warmth of it unending now
The stitching of your words, your speech
In a quilt shared with your every friend
And gave them each a patch, your peace.