No words can truly capture a mother’s love, but these poems get pretty close. Whether you have a close relationship with your mum, you two have recently reconnected, you have lost your mum, or you’re a mum yourself, there are many different forms a mother-daughter relationship can take.
Whether you’re looking for something brilliant to jot down in your Mother’s Day card this year, or you’re just looking for some quotes that capture your special relationship that you can enjoy on your own, these poems express all of the different ways that a mother’s love is truly special. From modern day writers like Lang Leav to classic poets like Rudyard Kipling these talented scribes perfectly put into words the strong love that you feel for your mum. To celebrate her guidance, strength and love, here are some beautiful Mother’s Day poems.
“A Mother’s Love,” Helen Steiner Rice
A Mother’s love is something
that no one can explain,
It is made of deep devotion
and of sacrifice and pain,
It is endless and unselfish
and enduring come what may,
For nothing can destroy it
or take that love away,
It is patient and forgiving
when all others are forsaking,
And it never fails or falters
even though the heart is breaking,
It believes beyond believing
when the world around condemns
,And it glows with all the beauty
of the rarest, brightest gems,
It is far beyond defining,
it defies all explanation,
And it still remains a secret
like the mysteries of creation,
A many splendored miracle
man cannot understand
And another wondrous evidence
of God’s tender guiding hand.
“A Thank You Note,” Lang Leav
You have told me
All the things
I need to hear
Before I knewI needed to hear them
To be unafraid
Of all the things
I used to fear,
Before I knew
I shouldn’t fear them.
“Mother,” Lola Ridge
Your love was like moonlight
turning harsh things to beauty,
so that little wry souls
reflecting each other obliquely
as in cracked mirrors …beheld in your luminous spirit
their own reflection,
transfigured as in a shining stream,
and loved you for what they are not.
You are less an image in my mind
than a luster
I see you in gleams
pale as star-light on a gray wall …
evanescent as the reflection of a white swan
shimmering in broken water.
“I Am Much Too Alone in This World, Yet Not Alone,” Rainer Maria Rilke
I want to mirror your image to its fullest perfection,
never be blind or too old
to uphold your weighty wavering reflection.
I want to unfold.
Nowhere I wish to stay crooked, bent;
for there I would be dishonest, untrue.
I want my conscience to be
true before you;
want to describe myself like a picture I observed
for a long time, one close up,
like a new word I learned and embraced,
like the everyday jug,
like my mother’s face,
like a ship that carried me along
through the deadliest storm.
“Mother O’ Mine,” Rudyard Kipling
If I were hanged on the highest hill,
Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine!
I know whose love would follow me still,
Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine!
If I were drowned in the deepest sea,
Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine!
I know whose tears would come down to me,
Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine!
If I were damned of body and soul,
I know whose prayers would make me whole,
Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine!
“To My Mother,” Christina Rossetti
To-day’s your natal day;
Sweet flowers I bring:
Mother, accept, I pray
My offering.
And may you happy live,
And long us bless:
Receiving as you give
Great happiness.
Untitled Poem, Sarah Malin
Your arms were always open when I needed a hug.
Your heart understood when I needed a friend.
“Never Enough,” Reanna Almeida
Sometimes I know the words to say to give thanks for all you’ve done, but then they fly up and away as quickly as they come.
How could I possibly thank you enough, the one who makes me whole, the one to whom I owe my life, the forming of my soul.
The one who tucked me in at night, the one who stopped my crying, the one who was the expert at picking up when I was lying
Taken from Good Housekeeping
Maria x
