Thank you, Mother!

 

Mother's Day

what do we seek to honor during Mother's Day?

maybe to remember that each of us 

was called out of the mist

and nurtured much of a year within the mother,

as primal a work as we can know,

yet, despite how basic and vital 

conception is, and birthing is,

there are long days and years of childhood

which often call the mother to be there, 

and to give fully,

holding the young to her

and also releasing them to become who they need to be,

putting up with what can feel right to the child

and can feel outrageous to the adult,

I have worked hard as a father,

but I still am in awe of what can be

the all-consuming love of the mother,

when no one else seems there,

the mother walks the extra mile,

watch people on the screen, 

caught for a moment,

who do they reach out to with their words?

"Hi, Mom!"

at our best, who we are

should often credit the mother 

who bore us,

who raised us,

who let us fly free,

despite how hard the letting go was.

Thank you, Mother!

by Henry H. Walker

May 7, ‘25