Mother’s Day was never a big day in my family. Outside of sharing a photo that my friends demanded to see on social media, the gifts my siblings and I would give my mother, and the burned breakfast we would attempt to make--it was a regular day. It wasn’t that we didn't love our mother but we grew up in a culture that told us to love and honor our mothers every day. “Paradise lies at the feet of your mother.”
So the American tradition of Mother’s Day made no difference to what we saw as Mother’s Day every day in our homes. But as an aspiring poet, I made a point to remind my mother of her importance in my life each year with a poem dedicated to her resilience.
Here’s this year’s poem.
Audio version
my mother’s strength and beauty
cannot be confined to one word
on her shoulders, she carries the wisdom of
her mother and her mother and hers
if only I could find the right words
would I bring justice to her being
immigrant.
how many
miles
have you traveled?
warrior.
how many
battles
have you fought?
brave.
how much
burden
have you carried?
empowering.
how many
tears
have you wiped?
selfless.
how much
pain
have you hidden?
the answer is endless
because of you yourself
are the embodiment
of resilience
and when people say
I look like you
I awe at your beauty
and pray one day
I will have
even an ounce
of your strength
to carry.
---
“Here's to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.”
Happy Mother’s Day!
Do you have a Mother’s Day tradition?