LESSON

My grandmother taught me how to knit.
Between the stitches,
she taught me something more important.
She said if you're
almost finished knitting something
and you discover you made a mistake —
even back at the very beginning —
here's what you do.
You undo everything
right back to where you made the mistake.
She said if you don't,
it will always bother you.
And you will never be
happy and proud of your finished work.
I have on many occasions
tried to rationalize not going back
to undo a difficult labor.
In those moments,
my grandmother always speaks to me.
I take a deep breath,
and start unraveling, as quickly as possible,
the wrongly wrought work.
When the mistake is undone,
I breathe a sigh of relief,
for the undoing is done,
and from here on,
I am building,
instead of regretting.


© Ellen Azorin