written and posted by members of Lancashire Dead Good Poets' Society

Tuesday 10 January 2023

Tapestry - Heavenly Stitches

 

‘Just another stitch in life’s rich tapestry’

I don’t know where the original quote came from but I used to say it a lot. I’ve heard variations of it on television programmes and read it in books but where it started eludes me. My dad heard me say it and loved it so much that he made it his own and drove me mad with it at least once a day. That was long ago. I used to say it at work back in those old days, 1970s, so I probably picked it up from a colleague. More recently I’ve heard ‘a dropped stitch in life’s tapestry’ when something has gone pear-shaped or not according to plan. I might try it out. There’s usually plenty of scope.

Somewhere in the attic, probably buried beneath other unfinished projects and my children’s  old school books, is my three-quarters completed tapestry of The Last Supper. No small starter kit for me. It was straight in for the epic masterpiece. The intention was to gift the finished work to the church I belonged to at the time, Raikes Parade Methodist. The church closed in 2003 and I think I’d already ‘rested’ the tapestry in favour of having a go at cross-stitch.  I’ve had one on the go for years. Not in the attic, well, not yet, anyway. It’s in the foot-stool where I keep needlework projects. Untouched for a while but not given up on. I struggle to see what I’m doing but I was given special magnifiers for Christmas which I hope will solve the problem. It might give me the incentive to dig out The Last Supper which was becoming quite a work of art.

A better work of art was my sister’s tiger, a large, beautiful tapestry that took her hours to do. I remember helping with the intricate embroidery details on the eyes. It’s so long ago that I could still see what I was doing. The finished tapestry was on the landing wall at the top of her stairs and looked stunning. I’ll have to ask her about it.

My young, impressionable music head was – and still is – dominated by The Moody Blues, but there was always a little space for other things. My fondness for female singers has always been limited to my daughter and not many others. One of the ‘not many’ is Carole King and her album which I love as much now as I did in the early ‘70s, Tapestry. I was spellbound by her soulful, almost mournful voice, and captured by her way with words. ‘You’ve Got A Friend’ spoke to me when I was down and troubled, nearly most of the time in those days.

I hope my dad's tapestry continues in Heaven, as I try not to drop too many stitches.

Carole King’s lyrics, poetry to me,

Tapestry

My life has been a tapestry
Of rich and royal hue
An everlasting vision
Of the ever-changing view
A wond'rous woven magic
In bits of blue and gold
A tapestry to feel and see
Impossible to hold

Once amid the soft silver
Sadness in the sky
There came a man of fortune
A drifter passing by
He wore a torn and tattered cloth
Around his leathered hide
And a coat of many colors
Yellow, green, on either side

He moved with some uncertainty
As if he didn't know
Just what he was there for
Or where he ought to go
Once he reached for something
Golden hanging from a tree
And his hand came down empty

Soon within my tapestry
Along the rutted road
He sat down on a river rock
And turned into a toad
It seemed that he had fallen
Into someone's wicked spell
And I wept to see him suffer
Though I didn't know him well

As I watched in sorrow
There suddenly appeared
A figure gray and ghostly
Beneath a flowing beard
In times of deepest darkness
I've seen him dressed in black
Now my tapestry's unraveling
He's come to take me back
He's come to take me back

by Carole King

Thanks for reading, Pam x

6 comments:

Steve Rowland said...

Beautifully written Pam. I don't know where the phrase originated either. There are variations (Life's rich pageant/pattern/tapestry) in various monologues and movies of the last hundred years but it seems hard to pin down the original culprit. However, with your kit in the attic you may just have chanced upon a new variant... Life's unfinished tapestry ;-)

Louise Bowdell said...

I was taken to see the Bayeux Tapestry on a school visit. It's an amazing piece of work and I envy anyone with the skill and patience (and eyesight) to create such pieces.

Tim Collins said...

I've always found Carole King's 'Tapestry' song rather strange and depressing.

Neil Burton said...

Within pagan/wiccan thought the life path is at times seen as a thread in a tapestry set by the Gods or as Greek mythology calls them the Fates .
Regardless of tradition , there is the belief that each event is part of the weft and warp of a picture woven by them , some belives dynamic others believe set , only viewed by us when or after the last stitch . Within the traditions there is the suggestion that a few 'gifted individuals or shamen' are abe to see the 'Geas' or actual 'path' of the life..

Danielle Tomlinson said...

My dad used to say it as well. I hadn't heard it said for years till I read your lovely blog. You should finish your tapestry, such a rewarding thing to do.

terry quinn said...

Rummaging in attics after not being up there in years is wonderful. My equivalent is an old rucksack from the 70s with letters and postcards and programmes.

It's great that you went straight for the epic masterpiece.

I loved most of the singer/songwriters of the 60s and 70s. There's a lovely youtube video of about an hour on Neil Sedaka.