A request and a poem
Hey everyone,
My mother died a couple of days ago from cancer, and I am looking for poems to read. I have combed through the old request tags and have come up with a selection, but nothing QUITE right. So I am looking for poems about mothers, primarily, and also poems about death that involve being peaceful (maybe Mary Oliver? Or something in a similar spirit?)
And in return, I offer a poem along those themes:
For My Mother
(May Sarton)
Once more
I summon you
Out of the past
With poignant love,
You who nourished the poet
And the lover.
I see your gray eyes
Looking out to sea
In those Rockport summers,
Keeping a distance
Within the closeness
Which was never intrusive
Opening out
Into the world.
And what I remember
Is how we laughed
Till we cried
Swept into merriment
Especially when times were hard.
And what I remember
Is how you never stopped creating
And how people sent me
Dresses you had designed
With rich embroidery
In brilliant colors
Because they could not bear
To give them away
Or cast them aside.
I summon you now
Not to think of
The ceaseless battle
With pain and ill-health,
The frailty and the anguish.
No, today I remember
The creator,
The lion-hearted.
My mother died a couple of days ago from cancer, and I am looking for poems to read. I have combed through the old request tags and have come up with a selection, but nothing QUITE right. So I am looking for poems about mothers, primarily, and also poems about death that involve being peaceful (maybe Mary Oliver? Or something in a similar spirit?)
And in return, I offer a poem along those themes:
For My Mother
(May Sarton)
Once more
I summon you
Out of the past
With poignant love,
You who nourished the poet
And the lover.
I see your gray eyes
Looking out to sea
In those Rockport summers,
Keeping a distance
Within the closeness
Which was never intrusive
Opening out
Into the world.
And what I remember
Is how we laughed
Till we cried
Swept into merriment
Especially when times were hard.
And what I remember
Is how you never stopped creating
And how people sent me
Dresses you had designed
With rich embroidery
In brilliant colors
Because they could not bear
To give them away
Or cast them aside.
I summon you now
Not to think of
The ceaseless battle
With pain and ill-health,
The frailty and the anguish.
No, today I remember
The creator,
The lion-hearted.