National Poetry Month--Day 23--Free Verse--Mater

 

Today it's free verse, so you don't need a helpful hint to build your own poem. Just take it from the confines of your soul. This is mine today:

MATER

I'll never forget the picture

Of you in that hanky bikini

Dad once made for you

When your knowing was young.

It speaks of your  

Mischievous streak--

That streak so evident

When you slept

On the park bench 

In far Zimbabwe--

The streak you showed

As you followed us to pub after Irish pub

To let the music take you--

That streak that 

Keeps you afloat

When life would 

Grind you into the mud.

Insouciance.

The tree growing from the tiny rock ledge

Roots finding tiny caches

Of sustenance.

Mater,

You are my belay

You are my sunshine life ring

 

Always ready for owning new places,

More of God's little ones

Lost and needing.

Your search finds you.

You seek, restless,

Spirit too large for tiny confining spaces

 

Though willingly rooted

Growing where you're planted,

Reaching for the stretching light

Your going before

Heartens and strengthens

I too can weather the storms

Because of your roots

 What you have seen,

And what lives you 'own'

What hearts you cultivate

In your mind

Build a rich tapestry

 You are caring

In all life's rich crazy quilt patchwork

Not simply picking

The perfectly squared

The corners-meet-exactly people

You stitch God's children into an eternal family

 

Stitches built of love

 

And deep longing to embrace and 

 

Bring together.

 

Happiness.

 

 

You are Dad's quicksilver girl

 

The keeper of an un-keep-able heart,

 

The one who won't cut the rope

 

To save yourself.

 

Where once his hand lead you

 

Yours now lifts, 

 

Though the lifting 

 

Sometimes sears 

How can I not learn

 

What you teach with every breath?

 

Your strength at once rock hard

 

And creamy soft
 

Years of tender service

Thousands of meals

Homemade dresses

Band-aides and canned applesauce

Making, creating, beautifying, building

A life lost in others'

Always we ask for more

Take sustenance from us, now.

Feel our love wrapping around you

Lifting as you've always

Lifted us.

Fuel for the long sprint.

You ARE home.

©2021 by H. Linn Murphy