HEIRLOOM LACE

HEIRLOOM LACE ^[1]

Today a cap for baby’s head,

So neatly stitched and done with grace,

A part of his dedication,

Or to protect her small, round face.

Mom soon will pack the cap away,

With other things in baby’s case.

It will grow old and gather charm,

Ignored by life’s swiftly run race.

Tomorrow the girl will carry

Up the church aisle’s long, even pace,

Along with blue, borrowed, and new,

This old hanky with memory’s lace.

If a boy, his bride may use it,

In old tradition’s rightful place.

She may carry then, this hanky,

Full of his life, and heirloom lace.      

-eab, 5/88

^[1] Written for my wife after she’d seen one like it but could not find what someone else (unknown to me) had written.