A Dialogue Of Patterns Is Partnership Poem by Denis Mair

A patient gleaner knows the sweetness of humble food;

A sleepless gleaner may capture sweetness in embroidery.

Surely an embroiderer needs motherliness, to bend over the threads so patiently;

How much more so is one who embroiders with calligraphy?

Surely it takes love of color to handle it with restraint;

Surely keenness for slight variations makes patterns that do not shout.

The growth of quiet distinctions explores a realm of implicate order:

One pattern implies another; one way of writing embeds another.

One is loosely studded with broken jewels; the other is tightly laced and uses color cautiously.

The gaudy dresser has a heart filled with rules; the plain-clad one is drunk with colors at the core.

Two patterns made in a motherly way can have a long dialogue.