Edith's Quilt by Margaret V. Doran

Edith's Quilt

Margaret V.Doran

Edith stitched her quilt with love,
each piece a remnant of her life
which she bore with grace and dignity:
for each child a patch
and each grandchild,
and each great grandchild
a piece for every joy and every pain,
a scrap for every sorrow and loss.

Each segment was lovingly added to
the patchwork
which became much more than the
individual pieces
Even horror and brutality were engulfed by
the lovely whole,
every section intricately bounded by the rest
meshed together with Edith's patient fingers.

And when we went to comfort her
she would flip back the edges of her life quilt
to take us into its warmth and protection
and with its corners she would soothe away
troubles and tears.
All were welcomed.
The edges of that quilt enfolded those
who were cold or fearful
who hungered
or had lost their way.

She encouraged us to help
with her quilt,
our awkward, coarse stitches joining
her exquisite near-perfect ones
And as we stitched, side by side,
she encouraged our stitches to become
straighter, more purposeful of line.
She set a humble example and showed us
how to piece together a life
lovely to God

Edith has taken her quilt with her.
Each of its pieces is a tribute to her
faithfulness and compassion
and generosity.
It shall be the bunting in which
the Lord enfolds His newest lamb
and welcomes her home in love
in comfort, in warmth, in joy,
free from pain and hurt

We shall miss the protection the quilt
of Edith's love provided,
yet all around us are small scraps
left over from that quilt.
Edith taught us how to stitch
on our knees
with a needle of purest gold
and threads of strong and endless prayer
And how to deftly toss back the edge to
welcome and shelter others and
enfold them in grace and mercy
We need but to pick up the bits
to begin stitching our own quilts
In grateful tribute to . . . Edith

(Edith passed away in 1997 but left a legacy of love for all who knew her)

Updated July 1, 1999
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