Cloak Of Words Poem by Louise Tredoux

Have you ever been forced into needlework
choosing embroidery, to be told by
well-meaning women! that it is a waste of time,
knitting is so much more practical,
look at the bootees and jerseys they are knitting,

One making a bedspread for the suffering
in the squatter-camp, then you have to put down
your embroidery - to have it attacked by a pack
of well-meaning women! the Ladies
Sewing Group, meeting in the Minister’s

house, and you are forced to serve them
tea with home-made scones, while they
take your embroidery apart, dissect your life
and pronounce your handiwork all wrong?
I embroider beautiful things, shepherdesses

and lovely landscapes, a Vermeer with the
lady staring into the distance, it is clear
she is trying to get away from a group of
interfering women discussing her embroidery!

Oh beloved, the cloak of words you sent,
the words of love and hope, the cloak of
long-suffering, was all that kept me from
growing hysterical and running away…