“Feathers! Don’t fall among ’em, ma’am!
Sometimes they fills this garret deep.
You can’t see any ? Wonder why!
They bresh my face when I’m asleep.
“Yes, three of us was living here,
My mother, sister May, and me.
It’ll be two years in the spring
Since I was left of all the three.
“You see, our trade was day piece-work.
We sorted feathers for the store,
Made flowers – roses, violets –
And piled ’em up here on the floor.
“Red, blue and yellow and light green –
They was reel pretty when all done;
We’d lay trays on the window sill
To watch ’em shining in the sun.
“One day a lady says to me,
‘I see you keep a flock of birds!’
“Why, ma’am?’ ‘Because there’s feathers here;
Feathers and feathers!’ Them’s her words.
“When momma and my sister went
Seemed s’if I couldn’t bear that sight!
I dropped the trade and took to sewing
Long as my eyes could stand the light.
“But then, wherever I would turn,
Feathers was flying round my head;
And flowers! I could see them blossom
Through the wall paper by my bed.
(Laura Benet)
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