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How did you find the energy, Mom
To do all the things you did,
To be teacher, nurse and counselor

To me, when I was a kid.

How did you do it all, Mom,
Be a chauffeur, cook and friend,
Yet find time to be a playmate,
I just can’t comprehend.

I see now it was love, Mom
That made you come whenever I’d call,
Your inexhaustible love, Mom
And I thank you for it all.

Mom lived her life for love of friends and family,
Neither asking for nor wanting a return.
Her days became a sunlit homily,
With others’ joy her joy and main concern.
When we were ill, she also became sick;
When we were cut, she, too, began to bleed.
Of our oil lamp she was the wick,
Drawing her bright flame from our need.
Some say that such behavior’s out of date:
That self-fulfillment is the way to grace.
But Mom, without much choice, then chose her fate,
Finding greater truth in an embrace.
She lives on in the sparkle in our eyes:
Laughing, quiet, gentle, loving, wise.

Mommy, I love you
For all that you do.
I’ll kiss you and hug you
‘Cause you love me, too.

You feed me and need me
To teach you to play,
So smile ’cause I love you
On this Mother’s Day.

Mommy, please don’t worry ’cause
I’m doing really well,
Even though I miss you on
This Happy Mother’s Day!

Wishing you were with me ’cause
In that case I could tell
You all the things that happened to me
While you were away.

I love you even though you can’t
Be with me just for now.
And I know you love me, too,
‘Cause I’m your little child.

And I’m sure that you will come
To me someday, somehow,
And I will see you look at me
And know that you have smiled.

More or fewer years make little difference.
Oceans are no more or less than streams.
Tears or laughter, donnybrooks or dreams,
Here there is no small inheritance.
Even in the direst circumstance,
Regardless of the measures and the means,
‘Ere the ends of days of kings and queens,
So were we loved beyond all will or sense.
Do, then, pay due respect to innocence,
As dear and pure and simple as it seems,
Yearning for no yield or recompense.

Mother of my loved one, hear my love
On this, a day when such sweet words are due.
Take to heart the heartfelt praise that you
Have long bestowed but wanted little of.
Even as waves hunger for the shore,
Resting their long yearnings on the sand,
So I have found in you a mother, and
Delighted in the sunlight at your door.
An accident of love brought us together,
Yet though I chose not, I would choose no other.

Mothering Sunday, Mothering Sunday,
Oh, what gratitude –
Till Monday!
Have a bit o’ bliss
Each one day
Reserved as your
Intended fun day.
Nor should a normal
Got-to-run day
Silence love
Until some someday;
Nor word not light a
Desperate glum day
As we await
Your Mothering Sunday.

Mothers and daughters
Were daughters and mothers
Not so long ago.
We give and take
And take and give
Along time’s endless row.

Love is passed
And love received
To be passed on again:
A precious heirloom
Twice, twice blessed,
A spiritual cardigan.

I’ll put it on
And treasure it,
The me I have received,
And when the roles
Reverse again,
I’ll have what I most need.

So may our love
Go on and on,
A hundred thousand years;
Mothers and daughters,
Daughters and mothers,
Through joys and other tears.

Mothers and daughters* ought to be friends,
But there is a lot that gets in the way.
The determined pursuit of opposite ends,
Ends up as harsh words we would rather not say.

Yet storms tend to pass, and passions abate,
And love to outlast the days of despair,
And comfort to come to those who would wait,
And friendships to flourish in those who forbear.

So we must be patient, and fight, if we must,
With the knowledge that love will endure what we do.
The anger is wind, and the angels are dust,
But love will be waiting whenever we’re through.

*Please feel free to change to “Parents and children,” “Fathers and sons,” etc.

Mothers are as total as the sky;
Older than the earth, and more enduring.
They’re rooted in our hearts like ancient trees,
Halfway down to seething lava seas;
Emblazoned on our sail, and on our mooring.
Returning home, we dwell within their sigh:
So maddening, so rich, so reassuring.