A Mother Poem

So I'm collecting some of my poems on the widely varied faces of motherhood to send to a contest. It's always educational to see where I was, how I felt, what I was thinking back when.

I've been thinking of this particular poem recently, anyway. I like it when something I've written comes back to me and I think, Yes, that's it exactly. It gives me hope as a writer!

But more importantly, this poem gave me hope as a mother. The measure of our pain reflects the measure of our love, like a pool of water reflecting the sun. And we all stand in that truth--together.

In a grey twilight arena

I stand

Face up and arms down

The blood of a thousand cuts

To my heart

Pooling at my feet

Clear drops form

And bead and trickle

Down my skin

My arms, my wrists

My fingertips

Morning tears of exhaustion

Course down my body

Chased by midday tears of tension

Meeting tears of evening frustration

And midnight despair

Motherhood flows over me

Rolls off my belly

And down my legs

Sliding silently

To collect on the stone

Ever expanding, ever silent

The current flows

Until

A shock races up me

A light snaps on

My arms rise up

I look left

Fingertip to fingertip

I stand

Recognition sparks

Another mother

Another pool

The same cuts

And toil and tears

And to the right

Another

The connection crackles