On Embroidering Monet's Waterlilies Poem by Gayathri Seetharam

On Embroidering Monet's Waterlilies
-Gayathri B. Seetharam
Last night and early this morning, I was embroidering at a steady pace
And the thimble kept slipping off my index finger
And I thought in passing
That had Sleeping Beauty worn a thimble,
She would not have fallen asleep after having hurt her finger
Until Prince Charming came and woke her;

The secret about the thimble is that
It does sort of come in the way
However, the right index finger is protected
And does not become painful but stays nimble
And thus is life's little cautionary notes
They come in the way but sure do protect us;

None of William Shakespeare or Jane Austen's heroines thought fit to embroider
It is a rare gift in an aunt of mine who is my younger paternal uncle's second wife
She does rich embroidery to the lengths of saris
But I hope that I score on original designs;

It is an old fashioned art to embroider men's handkerchiefs
But then again, it is passe to use hankies,
Instead, one uses tissues in 2020
I sure would love to embroider a man's handkerchief
If there was something in it for me
And make a four leaf clover
And in fabric paint, write the gentleman's name,
Or a short quote of mine, Four Leaf Clovers are for yesterday's movers
And today's thinkers,
And when the gentleman wipes sweat off his brow
Or sneezes into the handkerchief,
He makes a statement, a personal statement
That speaks his tongue of expertise.