Poem People: Mothering

Looking and finding

It’s funny to search in the dregs for the piece that fits your sentiment exactly. Every relationship has nuances and writing compounds them; the one below feels aged in a comfortable way, whereas many contemporary poems feel too real and too close with mention of conflict, of cellphones, swearing and divorce. In story, we keep mothers, vintaged and mythicized, rather than here at the breakfast table. Here in the car complaining about gas prices. Here looking at us with a twinge. They know what we stopped ourselves from saying.

Mother o' Mine

Rudyard Kipling - 1865-1936

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If I were hanged on the highest hill,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
I know whose love would follow me still,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

If I were drowned in the deepest sea,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
I know whose tears would come down to me,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

If I were damned of body and soul,
I know whose prayers would make me whole,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

More Mother’s Day pieces:

• Poem Sampler Editor’s Selection by the Poetry Foundation

• Poets.org list of emotional hits

• Discover Poetry one for every situation