nineteen twenties
silver dollar –
and dolls without their clothes
quilts were stitched
and still they tore away

coal had streaked
the papered walls –
as black the skirted dawn
hands to work –
fell the night
to pray

kittens cried beneath
the porch –
lifetimes moving forward –
as tempted by our fate
to sweet desire

crooked shelves
and hand-me-downs
as starched the sunday morning
smelled of breeze
and counted wings
of fire

twilight pressed
against the day –
bring the children home
across the fields –
and places lay between

mothers stood
with aprons tied
just beyond the lantern
mouthed a prayer of thanks
for saints unseen

hearts were tucked
and souls protected –
e’er the night be lost
or heaven break
before the early rise

hands were making
shadows –
across a flowered spread
as living held our nights
together –
long before our sighs