Don’t put up my thread and needle,
I’ll begin to sew
When the birds begin to whistle,
Better stitches so.
These were bent, my sight got crooked.
When my mind is plain
I’ll do seams a Queen’s endeavor
Would not blush to own.
Hems too fine for lady’s tracing
To the sightless knot,
Tucks of dainty interspersion
Like a dotted dot.
Leave my needle in the furrow,
When I put it down—
I can make the zigzag stitches
Straight, when I am strong.
Till then, dreaming I am sewing,
Fetch the seam I missed
Closer, so I, at my sleeping,
Still surmise I stitch.
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