I steep the wool in a cauldron
Of pummelled gall-nuts afloat in urine
Ad river-water thrice-boiled with a bloodstone
Then let it breathe
Under the beams
While I prepare the lichen
Half a fist of wizardbeard and rock-tripe
Yields a dye enough the whole town to paint
Lavenders an echo of the beeswing
Dazzling foxgloves ashake in the salty wind
It looks like a thundercloud
Suspended from the gables
High above the bobbing heads
Which now and then look up to see what's dripping on them
So we begin
Feeding it in
Combing through the fibres searching gently for a yarn to spin
My lady takes a nasty tumble
Down the crumbled steps of the merchants guild
Precipitating the early onset of labour
There is a crab
Caught in her hair
Stretchering through the market
Fearful are the bellows to behold
Even with the spindle firmly clenched between her teeth
With a snap the baby's head emerges
Onto these sodden eiderdown bedpages
Even though the new born child
Is not my kin
And still is dangling by a string
I ken the rising mystery of love
My very ancient friend