The Christening Dress
(grandmother )
All through the first chill days
Of Spring and in the lengthened
Light of summer, the young girl
Sat, a dream in smoke-gray eyes,
Her dark head bent over needle
Above the faint design she wove
In sheerest lawn; her small hands
Quick to form the tiny stitches she
Fashioned in christening robes
For her first born child.
“When comes September no royal
Babe shall have such a dress as mine,”
She said. Her needle true while the dream
Of babe pushed the thread and cloth.
Her dress, threads of love held finery.
A half a century later as summer spent
Their days of sun: Bertha lay in tranquil
Sleep beneath ancient pines, other hands
Seek out the robes. A tiny Kathleen to be
Born again shall wear the fragile lace.
A gift from yesterday of love and grace.
5 thoughts on "The Christening Dress"
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Ahhh. Love meeting your grandmother! I have just written a poem about my grandmother this morning. Our collective minds must be reaching back this week. I will post tomorrow so you can meet her.
Lovely picture of your grandmother creating an heirloom. Did your girls wear it for christening?
Kathleen, my niece, did and her two. We have beautiful pictures and the dress is now framed.
My favorite lines are “Her needle true while the dream/Of babe pushed the thread and cloth.”
My family had no such heirlooms. So I created handmade white gowns for my children to bring their children home from the hospital.