Tag: Johnny Richardson Cemetery

A Threadbare Dress

In memoriam:  Aunt Winnie
Winifred Lucille Goodin (née Richardson)
December 22, 1932–July 4, 2026

—a devotee addresses the Grim Reaper

I sense your silent hands tug at the seams,
Unraveling what we do not wish to lose.
The threadbare dress is not what it seems.

We call it loss and wonder what redeems—
A change we do not want, yet cannot choose.
I sense your silent hands tug at the seams.

We cling to threads, to memories, to dreams,
Afraid of what you will take and what we will lose.
The threadbare dress is not what it seems.

But slowly, out of the grief, It gleams—
An incorruptible cloth, a dynamic, immortal Muse.
I sense your silent hands tug at the seams.

You snatch the old but leave that which redeems—
A robe of stars we thought we could not choose.
The threadbare dress is not what it seems.

So, as you come, do not bring fearful, paltry schemes—
Instead, come with grace and without excuse abstruse.
I sense your silent hands tug at the seams;
But this threadbare dress is not what it seems.