Written In Black And White

Mondays were washdays.

They had decreed it long ago,

written it down in black and white,

and They must be obeyed still

everyone knew it.

Thus every Monday 

the women dressed in black

and left their neat white houses

and carried their white bundles

of grubby grey washing to the river

to scrub and scrub to make it white again.

No colours were allowed.

They had decreed it long ago,

written it down in black and white

to be obeyed for ever.

So the clean washing

was wrapped 

in white bundles

and tightly bound,

bound for home

with the black clad women

just as They had decreed

in black and white.

No one knew why 

but all obeyed.

It was the way things were

written

in black and white.

Every Monday in black and white.

https://masticadorescanada.wordpress.com/2025/12/29/written-in-black-and-white-by/