Pink, Small, but not Punctual

At first I thought I'd finish it in time to drape it over the light pink azalea that bloomed in our front yard. I didn't. The tiny blossoms (my favorite kind of azalea blossom) multiplied much faster than my tiny stitches, and by the time the azalea was resplendent in pink glory, the blanket could only warm a few petals.

Then I thought I'd finish it in time to drape it over the hedge of bright pink azaleas that bloomed in our back yard. I didn't. Just as they reached full bloom last year a tornado toppled a tree on them, and so it seemed this year they were striving for twice the number of flowers, twice the loveliness, four times (or more!) the pink!

Finally I thought I'd finish it in time to drape it over the pink azalea that bloomed in the other corner of our front yard, where our bumblebee lives. The buds appeared one at a time, not all at once like the other plants. For a while it seemed there would be more green than pink. But with a final burst of blooms our last azalea brightened the air, when all the other azaleas had faded.

I finished it just before Easter. Pink with yellow and blue and green and white flecks, in a simple feather and fan pattern. At one time it was a gift for a brand new little spring bloom named Libby Gail, but the shower came and went long before the blanket was finished. My friend, who is Miss Libby's great aunt, found another special gift.

Until the blanket finds a new bed, it will stay right here and remind me of a spring filled with pink! As soon as I finish weaving in the ends...

Pink - Small - and Punctual

by Emily Dickinson

Pink - small - and punctual -

Aromatic - low -

Covert - in April -

Candid - in May -

Dear to the Moss -

Known to the Moll -

Next to the Robin

In every human Soul -

Bold little beauty

Bedecked with thee

Nature forswears

Antiquity -