Ode to Old Faithful: More Than Just a Blue Sweater

Just a sweater

A gift

A necessity

Nothing special on the surface

Just a few, fine stripes

Along the chest

And a prominent

Smart but plain

Dark blue colour

Nothing much to right home about

But

We both know

Old Faithful

You are so much more

Aside from my wife and the boys

You are important

You have been loyal

Stuck by me

Through thick

Through thin

Whenever I lose

Whenever I win

No matter

How many times

I dirty you up

No matter

How many times

I wash and dry you

You still stay true

Warm and comforting

Like a loving embrace

By a fire

On a winter's night

Oh the winters

We have experienced

The colds, flus, viruses,

Winter sickness bug, corona

and so much more

Whenever winter

taps at the door

With its frosty fingers

You are the first thing

I search out

Whenever addiction

Has gripped at me

You always did your best

To give me extra comfort

The times we've shared

Loss and grief

Were a little easier

With you soothing me

Whenever money has been tight

and I just need to feel...

Secure? Your softness is there

Whenever I've felt lost

Whenever I've felt unfixable

Whenever I've hurt everyone else

Whenever they give up hope on me (justifiably)

Because they must, should and need to

You were still there

Providing warmth, comfort and something

Without discrimination

Without judgment

You may be just a blue sweater

An old blue sweater

You may have slight staining

From all the years service

You have given me

But you are my blue sweater

Old Faithful

More than just a blue sweater

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Thanks for reading!

This is an entry for the Ode to Ordinary Challenge, which you can find out more information here:

Old Faithful, as I call it, was a blue sweater I think my wife bought from the George clothes department of Asda supermarket while we were still living in Leeds, West Yorkshire. She bought it very early on in our relationship and it is still alive and kicking to this very day. Albeit with slight staining, as you can see in the picture. It has been with me through a lot and it is one of my favourite items of clothing. I am not attached to many clothes, apart from that.

So it seemed fitting to write an ode to it.

*

If you want, you can take a look at some of my other work, including my 300th published piece on Vocal and another entry for the Ode to Ordinary Challenge:

You can also take a look at my full collection of work here.