Virgin

A fabric following us throughout
our lives: I feel it tearing.

There’s mother sewing, mending,
with rays like a sacred Aztec shroud

—all the folds falling against bias.
Not unlike a lighted Virgin.

And how do you feel when
being stripped, frayed,

and sewn with bold X’s?
What does fabric do

for a closed world, heritage,
migrant, or site, but cover

gardens and graves in shroud?
Mother of Torn Fabric, our sewn

spirits need mending.