The deft, agile fingers in firelight flicker 
 Skin laced in wrinkles that made needles sing 
 There, love is concreted with quietened breathing 
 Simple entwining of intimate string 
 It's a beautiful thing 
    At stockinged knees sitting, I watching, her knitting 
 Intent on her fixing my little hands' mess 
 She's sure she can save it, even with hands shaking 
 She had such a patience that I don't possess 
 I was such a small pest   
 Let us sit so quietly 
 In firelight, I know you'd die for me 
 How gentle can our violence be 
 'Tween finger and thumb 
 I'm sorry I'm repetitive 
 Don't mind, I keep forgetting it 
 So long as it's my thread, not the depths of our love   
 Two girls in their twenties, slowed down getting ready 
 As one said: Please help me, for it's cold tonight 
 In our undergarments, she passed me the scarf and 
 Said: I never learned how to cast off right   
 For a moment, I swore that the light that I saw as 
 She handed the wool with a smile in the gloom 
 Was the firelight form from the glow I was taught in 
 On grandmother's hands in the cottage sitting room 
 Of course, I'll cast off for you   
 Let us sit so quietly 
 In firelight, I hope you'd die for me 
 How gentle can our violence be 
 'Tween finger and thumb 
 I'm sorry I'm repetitive 
 Don't mind, you keep forgetting it 
 So long as it's your thread, not the depths of my love