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Hand-Me-Downs
- Louisiana State University Press
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Hand-Me-Downs She wheels her chair beside a locked oak chest That holds both christening and wedding gowns, Her mother’s things she’s always cherished best And worn herself, love’s heirloom hand-me-downs. Her husband far afield pushes a plow His father made to break this fertile land That he as father works with his son now, The well-worn handles passed from hand to hand. The son’s put on his father’s overalls, Just come to manhood and a grownup’s size; A daughter wraps her mother-woven shawls Across full breasts no shawl or blouse disguise. This family knows that little’s really new, That most of life’s comprised of hand-me-downs Someone before us thought or made or grew, Then gave or left us like a mother’s gowns Or Bible with its ever-spreading tree Whose limbs bear names like those oak limbs outside Young grandsons calling mount with that same glee Their grandma felt who wheels to watch them ride. ...