Mama's Day

This poem has been shared by many on Mother's Day, but it's too good not to share, I think. And having just given birth to my own wee girl "one morning just before spring" makes it feel all the more relevant to me right now.

How the days went
While you were blooming within me
I remember each upon each--
The swelling changed planes of my body--
And how you first fluttered, then jumped
And I thought it was my heart.

How the days wound down
And the turning of winter
I recall, with you growing heavy
Against the wind. I thought
Now her hands
Are formed, and her hair
Has started to curl
Now her teeth are done
Now she sneezes.
Then the seed opened.
I bore you one morning just before spring--
My head rang like a fiery piston
My legs were towers between which
A new world was passing.

From then
I can only distinguish
One thread within running hours
You...flowing through selves
Toward you.

~Audre Lord

Happy Mother's Day to all you mamas. However you spend it, may you know you're blessed -- and loved. And may we all be both fierce and tender as we do this work, familiar and yet always new, of raising our children up.

PS: And for a totally different look at motherhood, check this out. It made me laugh until I cried -- and cry until I laughed.