Someone Else's Mothers - On the 30th Anniversary of My Mother's Death at the Age of 54

                                     (photo from the web)


A Mother’s Prayer 
by Raymond A. Foss

A mother’s prayer
for her child, for her children
for healing, for grace
for the pain she carries
to be lifted from her weary shoulders
to breath free, without weight
hanging, pulling her down
to see a change, a renewal
a mending of the tears,
the frayed edges of existence
of the interrupted aspects,
the missing pieces of her life
after disruptions and displacement
rebuke, and distance
A change of course, in the offing
in the near future, hopeful still
in the God who has listened,
heeded her call before

     Someone's Mother 

by Robert William Service

Someone's Mother trails the street
Wrapt in rotted rags;
Broken slippers on her feet
Drearily she drags;
Drifting in the bitter night,
Gnawing gutter bread,
With a face of tallow white,
Listless as the dead.

Someone's Mother in the dim
Of the grey church wall
Hears within a Christmas hymn,
One she can recall
From the oh so long ago,
When divinely far,
in the holy alter glow
She would kneel in prayer.

Someone's Mother, huddled there,
Had so sweet a dream;
Seemed the sky was Heaven's stair,
Golden and agleam,
Robed in gown Communion bright,
Singingly she trod
Up and up the stair of light,
And thee was waiting - God.

Someone's Mother cowers down
By the old church wall;
Soft above the sleeping town
Snow begins to fall;
Now her rags are lily fair,
but unproud is she:
Someone's Mother is not there . . .
Lo! she climbs the starry stair
Only angels see.