Grace Sheridan is a former elementary school teacher and civil service employee, the mother of two sons,She is a volunteer at the Cutler Library, the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse Visitors Center, Sunrise Senior College, and Take Off Pounds Sensibly. Grace and her spouse Neil enjoy a rural lifestyle in the seaside village of Cutler, Maine.
From Australia, with Love
A Seamstress Changes Spools
Thinking about The Painting
FROM AUSTRALIA, WITH LOVE
All evening I study the face
of your mother finding you
in the smile, in the eyes; hearing
the stories of clam pies and biscuits,
the laundry days for ten,
her violin from Nova Scotia
stored somewhere under the eaves.
That night I dream of Australia
with a wooden kitchen table
where she talks with me for hours.
I tell you that Mum sends her love
and the morning’s as misty as dew.
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A SEAMSTRESS
CHANGES SPOOLS
When I was young,
I never thought to ask . . .
what was the life you left behind,
what inspired you,
who traveled with you,
did anyone discourage you,
what were your fears,
did you have regrets,
because you were here
and I wasn’t aware
how much would be lost
when you were taken away.
Now I’m older
and often wonder. . .
what did you read, did you study
the language while crossing the sea,
who was waiting to meet you,
what were your impressions,
what did you bring,
how were you accepted,
what were your joys and sorrows
because now I know
the threads of your life
are wrapped in the core of mine.
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Thinking about The Painting
A Young Girl Reading 1776,
by Jean Honore-Fragonard
Half the room is dark, the other,
bursting with yellow energy
eager to escape the ruffled
confinement of a Sunday afternoon
with something more than her book.
It would slip unnoticed to the floor
as her hair would fall from the crown
of ribbons tied in a bow if
she could persuade someone to run
barefoot across the field, to splash
with her in the stream, no matter
if it soils the hem of her dress.
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