Needlework: After Embroidering

I can take mercerized cotton
And make a never-flower beautiful
By thinking of tulips growing in window-boxes;

I can work into cloth
A certain hushed softness
From an imagined scrutiny
Of a lily's skin,

And embroider conventional designs the better
For thinking of brick garden paths.

But if I go farther,
If I follow the path,
Fling out the gate,
Plunge one breathless thought over an horizon . . .
My hands lose their cunning.