Hankie
Hey --
If you ever run across a hankie,
You know, a pretty, thin one
With a delicate flower stitched on it,
Pick it up for me, will you,
And I'll pay you back.
I remember my Ma used to spit on her hankie
And wipe it in the corners of my mouth
To wash away the traces of the cookie
I was eating on the bus
Going to Aunt Ruth's house on Dakin Street.
We went everywhere on the bus.
We didn't have a car.
Gas was rationed anyhow.
Most Sundays, my Ma would give me
A nickel for Sunday School.
She tied that nickel up very carefully
In the corner of my hankie
So's I wouldn't lose it
Before I put it in the collection plate.
Sometimes it was hard to get that nickel
Out of that hankie, it was wrapped in there so tight.
The collection guy would wait for that nickel,
Scowling at every minute of delay
While I struggled to get the it out of the hankie.
Once I had a quarter and a dime
Wrapped in that hankie all at once.
I think it was Easter.
I'm glad I didn't lose it.
At school in fifth grade Wilbur sat behind me.
He'd put my braid ends in his inkwell
And laugh and ask to use my snotrag.
Oh, I hated him.
He was always Wilbur, so Wilbur.
At Christmastime, my Ma would give me a whole dollar
To go downtown Christmas shopping.
After I bought the Blue Waltz for her
I'd buy seven men's hankies
To give to my Dad, my step-Grandpa,
My uncles and cousins.
Once I even had a man teacher.
I gave him a hankie for Christmas, too.
The store used to give me boxes
To wrap the hankies in.
When my Uncle Art died
I didn't even have a hankie with me
So I had to wipe my eyes and my nose
On my coat sleeve.
It was a cold and gloomy day in January
And the end of my sleeve froze.
I loved my uncle so much.
So, if you come across one of those hankies,
Get it for me, will you,
And I'll pay you back.
Nowadays everybody uses Kleenex
But it just isn't the same.
Sharon Warden
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