The Family Quilt

Hand to cloth tracing

fingers long and short.

No such thing as a neat line

when tracing hands that lend support.

With each new year,

some are new, some return,

and some never again appear,

no matter how much we might yearn.

Hands that hug with care

and roll cookies for baking.

Fingers that braid hair

and wipe tears when you’re aching.

But these memories never fade,

when hands are placed in outlines that stayed.