On a Silver Thimble of the Tudor Era, Found in the Grass Outside Gwydir Castle, Conwy, Wales, Sally Thomas (June 2026)

 

On a Silver Thimble of the Tudor Era, Found in the Grass Outside Gwydir Castle, Conway, Wales

She dropped it—how? bright fingertip of sun?—
Down deep in meadow grass that afternoon
Sometime during the reign of Elizabeth One,
 
Or earlier? A day of smoke and thin
Midsummer light? A picnic? Weather fine
For the time of year, the hills an austere brown
 
Upswell beneath high haze? A smell of stone,
Lichen-green? Fires kindled, axe swept down?
Herself on the grass, stitching a length of white linen?