Antiquated, perhaps –

petticoats and ruffles

don’t equate with modern ways.

Facebook is what she does with dog-eared pages in her spare time.

Internet conjures up tangled silk stockings

rather than monitors and keys

in her mind’s eye.

Her skills are those of a dying breed –

her brain remembers how to keep the fire stoked

to bake her weekly bread,

not who visited her last.

How much pickling salt to add to a quart,

how to blanch her beans to keep their summer’s crunch

trumps where her little bed lies

in these confusing interminable hallways.

But her smile still lights up a room.

Her quaint and dainty ways still

cling to her ruffles.

And her wizened frame

hides true beauty

in its folds…