THERE are echoes of the Irish folk song "Twas on a Monday morning when I beheld my darling" in this chronicle of a woman's working week.
The focus, however, is not romantic but maternal. The writer is the Orcadian George Mackay Brown (1921-1995) and the piece is a testament to his own mother. The poem first appeared, posthumously, in The Herald in 1996.
THE MOTHER
On Monday she stood at the wooden wash-tub,
Suds to the elbow,
A slave among the storm-gray shirts and sheets.
Tuesday she pegged the washing high -
The garden a galleon in a gale!
Then lamplight, the iron, the crisp sun-smelling folds.
The rooms thrummed with Gaelic rhythms,
A low monotone, on a Wednesday
(And every day), ancient Celtic work-spells.
She was never free like the lipsticked shop-girls
On Thursday afternoon; all her tasks
Were like bluebells in a jar on the window-sill.
On Friday she rose above textures of oat and barley
Into the paradise of cakes.
I licked cream from the wooden spoon.
Saturday night, I followed her basket and purse.
The grocer, silver-spectacled, was king
Of the apples, cheeses, syrup, sweetie-jars, cloves.
We sat, seven, in the high pew on Sunday.
After the psalms, her paper poke
Made sweet thunders all through the sermon.
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