Chirpy Stokes
What we know
1869-1943
Martha Stokes’ oldest child.
Reassurances
Chirpy was born from a songbird
and had the bare feet to prove it ̶̶̶
that's what her mother said
even though none of the men said so.
Washing for one man's the same
as cooking for ten, and
coking for ten's the same
as boarding four and twenty.
That's what her mother said
and it had to be so, for in
the cold-star stillness her mother's hand
stroke her long hair
to wake her,
brushed it in the
struggling firelight,
and braided it down
her back with red
ribbons—even on washing day1
.
Connections

Portal
Sources
Portal caption and links
A drawing of a bird on a branch.
play harpsichord A a c d a a
visual effect checkerboard slow
Martha Stokes
page revision: 5, last edited: 10 Jan 2012 23:35