bright patches...

The Patchwork Quilt

Life isn't given to us all of a piece,
It's more like a patchwork quilt -
Each hour and minute a patch to fit in
To the pattern that's being built.

With some patches light - and some patches dark,
And some that seem ever so dull -
But if we were given to set some apart,
We'd hardly know which to cull.

For it takes the dark patches to set off the light,
And the dull to show up the gay -
And, somehow, the pattern just wouldn't be right
If we took any part away.

No, life isn't given us all of a piece,
But in patches of hours to use,
That each can work out his pattern of life
To whatever design he might choose.

-- Helen Lowrie Marshall