Marya Zaturensky

From “Spinners”

The young girl passes by

THE OLD women sit at Willowsleigh. They spin,

And shriek and sing above the humming din.

They are so very old and brown and wise,

One is afraid to look them in the eyes.

Their bony fingers make a chilly sound,

Like dead bones shaking six feet underground!

Their toothless singing mocks—they seem to say:

“What I was yesterday you are today;

Stars kissed my eyes, the sunlight loved my brow—

You’ll be tomorrow what I am now.”

They dream and talk—they are so old and lean;

And the whole world is young and fresh and green.

Once they were flowers, and flame, and living bread;

Now they are old and strange, and almost dead!

The old women spin at Willowsleigh; they fool

And scold, and sleep. Once they were beautiful.