Creative Writing Saturday

 

Better late than never…

The Peace Of Wild Things

When despair grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. ~ Wendell Berry

Happy Mother’s Day

The natural state of motherhood is unselfishness.
When you become a mother, you are no longer
the center of your own universe.
You relinquish that position to your children. ~ Jessica Lange

As the mother of three grown children and many g’children , I am familiar with the job of motherhood. I say “job,” because in spite of being a licensed attorney for over 26 years, being a mother is the far harder of the two. In the best of circumstance, a child has an intact family with a mother and father. Nevertheless, in most cases, it is the mother who takes the primary role of raising the child. Children do not come with an instruction manual and even the best of mothers make mistakes. Yet, so long as a mother imbues her child with unconditional love, kindness, the strength of character, respect for themselves and others, honesty and most importantly, curiosity, the child will prosper.

For all of you mothers and g’mothers out there, and in some cases, fathers, toiling to raise amazing human beings, I commend you for your efforts and wish you peace, happiness, good health and boundless love. I also wish you a day of relaxation, pampering and peace, because you certainly deserve it and more. Thank you for undertaking a role that, thanks to your love and guidance, will hopefully serve to produce an adult well-equipped to face and contribute to our society.

For those friends who have lost your Mother, you are in my thoughts. I pray that you hold good thoughts and memories about your beloved mother and that she is still alive in your heart. She will always be your Mother.

Finally, to those friends who are Mothers who have lost your precious children, I can’t presume to comprehend your thoughts and feelings, except to the extent that when I think of losing one of my beloved children, it shatters my heart. All that I can say is that I am sorry for your loss and pray for you as you go through this day. Yet, you still are, and always will be, a treasured mother. Happy Mother’s Day!

 

Creative Writing Saturday

MESSENGER

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird —
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever ~ Mary Oliver