Huswifery
Huswifery
1Make me, O Lord, thy Spining Wheele compleate.
4 And make my Soule thy holy Spoole to bee.
5 My Conversation make to be thy Reele
6 And reele the yarn thereon spun of thy Wheele.
7Make me thy Loome then, knit therein this Twine:
9Then weave the Web thyselfe. The yarn is fine.
11 Then dy the same in Heavenly Colours Choice,
12 All pinkt with Varnisht Flowers of Paradise.
13Then cloath therewith mine Understanding, Will,
14 Affections, Judgment, Conscience, Memory
15My Words, and Actions, that their shine may fill
16 My wayes with glory and thee glorify.
17 Then mine apparell shall display before yee
18 That I am Cloathd in Holy robes for glory.
Notes
2] Distaff: “A cleft staff about 3 feet long, on which … wool or flax was wound. It was held under the left arm, and the fibres of the material were drawn from it through the fingers of the left hand, and twisted spirally by the forefinger and thumb of the right, with the aid of the suspended spindle, round which the thread, as it was twisted or spun, was wound” (OED “distaff” 1). Back to Line
3] Flyers: later in machine spinning, the flyer twisted the thread as it led it to the bobbin and wound it therein (OED “flyer, flier” 3e). Back to Line
8] quills: stems on which yarn is wound. Back to Line
10] Fulling Mills: a mill where wooden hammers beat cloth and fuller’s earth (soap) cleans it. Back to Line
Publication Notes
Text: The Poems of Edward Taylor, ed. Donald E. Stanford with a forward by Louis L. Martz (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1960): 467.
First published: The poetical works of Edward Taylor, ed. Thomas Johnson (New York: Rockland editions, 1939): 116.
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire