Hanque O . . . - Knox County Wool

She went to Knox County each spring
to collect wool
from freshly sheared sheep,

a basket brought home
for carding and dyeing
with the bark, root, and leaf she had collected on walks.

Over hot summer evenings
she spun and she hanked
on her son’s outstretched hands.

With autumn, and the beginning
of long nights, she began,
and so went the fall, so went the winter.

Her fingers knitted and pearled and cabled
the evenings away, row by row—
sweaters and scarfs for her children and grandchildren.

A bit of an enigma, she willed
harmony into her home from her seat
by the hearth, where she quietly cast-off serenity.

Hanque O . . .

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/knox-county-wool/