Written piece
An Ode to Lace
Leanne Ellul
Malta
About this piece
"An Ode to Lace" recalls an old woman I once met in Xlendi, Gozo, weaving lace with as much patience as love. The poem imagines her and her craft; both of them dying. Faith, family, and the sea are woven through the poem, anchoring it in its island setting.
An Ode to Lace
how lace gets her through another day / the old lady by the sea / in Xlendi / weaving afternoons of linen and silk / takes her mind off things / it starts with the sign of the cross / a late one like this / she trades her nap for it / her hair a knot the size of a fist / she is dressed in psalms / sitting on the edge of a rush-bottom chair / tas-soda / the lace pillow resting on her knees / it-trajbu / and against the limestone wall / flaking away like salt / weeks back she was sitting on the same chair / pinning the Maltese-cross to the trabju / bil-labar / crossing the bobbins from left to right / as if in dancing / over, under / filling the gaps / under, over / she is almost done now / tilting her neck like resting / the other women / they’re having a siesta on bleached white sheets / she places her hand on the lace pillow / her hand the texture of crushed paper / the weight of the trajbu feels naïve / she has taken on weight heavier than this / the bobbins keep on dancing / she is a symphonist / weaving music from in-between her fingers / she bobs her head / on afternoons made of breeze / bobbin, bobbin / iċ-ċumbin / a cross taking shape / and wheat ears / pinning at every intersection / cross, pin / when her niece insists on letting her go swim again / cross, pin / she gives up as easily as a finished thread / imsallba biha / she has to take care of her / she secures the thread / il-ħajta / to the bobbin's neck / wrapping the thread evenly / as if putting on a neat noose / applying a hitch to keep it from unwinding / she does this in pairs / a thread shared by two bobbins / a breath shared by twins / she continues till she is almost finished / it has been ages since the threads got tangled / with her years merging into none / when she finishes / she cuts the thread / lets it loose / takes a step back to see the in-betweens / lifts the lace like skin peeling off after staying too long in the sun / she glances back at the sea / and lets its saltiness take over / her niece is still somewhere out there