A Thousand Stars for Mama

Dear Mother,

Strangely, I remember those months when I lay cuddled in your womb. I remember the warmth, the comfort and the protection in there. That was a pure little world untainted in any way. Many, many years ago, Mama, you brought me into this world. I don’t know or care what I was in my previous life. But this life, Mother, this very life I’m now living, is what I cherish the most. I don’t remember being born. But I do remember suckling in your milk and clamping on your back. Only now do I realise that you were my only source of support – my lifeline.  And I remember – though these are only faded memories now seen through a tarnished glass pane of old age – all those other stages of my growing up. But you, Mother, remembers with vivid clarity all the days of my growing up, from the gruelling nine months when I was a heavy load inside of your body, through the days you taught me how to walk and talk, to that year when you walked me through the school gates. 

You never tired up or complained of me. Sometimes I wonder what you are made of, Mother. But what I wonder the most is; where could I have been, if you weren’t there for me to lean on, and just where could I have gone, if to another I was born? I can write waxing lyrical about you Mother, and shine a thousand stars for you. I just can’t help being effusive in my florid praise of you. Sated I feel, every time I think of what you are worth, and the amity between us. Possibly with no prior augury of what I’ll grow into, I’m sure today you take pride in what I’ve become.

Inspired by a perfect Mother, I’ve always sought to be a perfect child, just so I can project to the world the greatness of the hands that moulded me. Read below, Mother, and see what you inspired. I wrote these words for you. Call it a poem if you will, but these words are sourced from the deepest core of your son:   

I sit here in the fresh shade of a tree
Hugging this body and soul, feeling entirely free
Canopy showering down a freshness that beats the heat
In the inside of my ribcage I can hear and feel the thumping of my heartbeat 

Sun blazes up in the sky and the earth is smouldering hot
Yet she stoops over the flaming fire and keeps stirring that pot
She stirs the thick paste of porridge for the mouth and bellies to feed
In rain or shine, she always knows in time what her family is in need

 

She’s one of a kind and I’ve known her for so long
Here under this cool shade, my heart is singing her a song
Wrinkles now adorning her beautiful old face
A reminder that through it all, she kept up to the pace

We all sat on her lap and leaned on her shoulder
This woman tagged ‘mother’ is a hearty soldier
Through times my love for her will always reverberate
For today and forever it’s only her that I celebrate

With Love From Your Son
A Happy Mother’s Day to You