Hoarding threads
 
Take yellow, for instance.
Sometimes one gold strand
will put a comma of sun
on an ear of wheat.
 
So cut the required thread,
hold it to the light.
Don't be distracted by its shimmer.
To tease out one strand,
pull the ends apart.
Keep up with the spiralling silk:
too fast, it doubles back in tangles;
too slow, it never takes off.
Once separated,
keep it suspended a little longer.
Let the kinks unfurl.
Thread your needle,
choose a stitch,
polish the wheat ear.
 
But keep all remaining strands.
Pin each new colour to your margin.
Gloat on your treasures.
Suddenly, twisted with lilac or aqua,
that yellow will shine out —
the gleam of rain on rooftops.
 
 
Joyce Lambert

Published by SMITHS KNOLL, 1996