Grieving on Mother's Day

There are a thousand things I could write today about grief and Mother’s Day – a holiday that seems, in our culture, to honor only those mothers who have children alive and well.  However, I have been in recent weeks (months) taking my own advice regarding grief and self-care (hence, the lack of posts).  So, today I simply want to share two poems to honor first, ALL mothers – especially those often unacknowledged on this day and every day – and second, to honor those mothers whose children left before they were born – for they are still mothers, regardless of if they had the gift of holding their children in their arms or not.

For Every Mother

Today is indeed, a day of beauty
An honoring of those amazing women
The ones who loved us and taught us
And gave us what we needed –
Each in their very own special way.

And to stop there would be
A disservice –
For there are so many mothers
Who, on this day and many others,
Go unrecognized and unacknowledged.

On this day for mothers –
I give love and peace to
All of you –

The mother who holds her children
Lovingly in her arms,
The mother who held a child in her
Womb but never in her arms,
The mother who gave her child life
Then gave her child to be loved by another,
The mother whose child has left or is gone –
For whatever reason,
The mother who has not children of her own
But mothers all the children she knows,
The mother who shares her amazing
Mother love to her 4-legged children,
The mother who mothers the children
Searching for a home,
The mothers who birth and nurture
Through art and plants and endless love,
And all those I may have neglected to mention –

For it is you, on this day called
Mother’s Day, I honor.
Each one of you who celebrates,
Each of you who cries,
Those who are acknowledged
And especially those who are often
Unseen –

For it is you –
Those seen and unseen,
Forgotten and remembered,
Whose love makes the world
All that it can be.

~ Emily Long

Heart Mother

I miss you
A little extra today, it seems.
Mothers are being honored today
My arms feel that much more
Empty
Without you to hold.
I never got to be the mom
Who took care of you,
Taught you things,
Watched you grow.
So, when I am asked
I always say,
“No, I have no children”
‘Tis easier, sometimes,
Than trying to explain.
And it always feels like a lie
Because although you left
Chose not to be born
In my heart, you are my children
In my heart, I am a mother.

About these ads