Happy Mother's Day!

From all of the world's males and mates and daughters and sons and significant others to each and every one of the world's mothers and mates, especially mine. We bow in awe to you.

male grosbeak offering a bow           © harrington

We stand in wonder before your awesome power.

male tanager standing in wonder           © harrington

We want you to know that we know you always have been, are now, and always will be part of us, and we of you; that many of you are often the Better Half of many of us.

female bluebird surveying her world           © harrington

We wouldn't be here without you and there's so much we learn from you, as Julie Kasdorf so memorably describes. Thank you for being who you are and doing what you do.

What I Learned From My Mother

By Julia Kasdorf 

I learned from my mother how to love

the living, to have plenty of vases on hand

in case you have to rush to the hospital

with peonies cut from the lawn, black ants

still stuck to the buds. I learned to save jars

large enough to hold fruit salad for a whole

grieving household, to cube home-canned pears

and peaches, to slice through maroon grape skins

and flick out the sexual seeds with a knife point.

I learned to attend viewings even if I didn’t know

the deceased, to press the moist hands

of the living, to look in their eyes and offer

sympathy, as though I understood loss even then.

I learned that whatever we say means nothing,

what anyone will remember is that we came.

I learned to believe I had the power to ease

awful pains materially like an angel.

Like a doctor, I learned to create

from another’s suffering my own usefulness, and once

you know how to do this, you can never refuse.

To every house you enter, you must offer

healing: a chocolate cake you baked yourself,

the blessing of your voice, your chaste touch.

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