This is a beautiful piece of poetic prose about what it is to be a mother. My husband's sister Aine discovered it and found strength in it when their mother died. She did a touching and emotive reading of it at her funeral. So in honour of Mothers Day last Sunday, this is dedicated to my mother-in-law Kathleen Evans, who died just 9 weeks after my little girl Tegan was born. She is missed.
***
The young mother set foot
on the path of life,
“Is the way long? “
she asked.
And the guide said: “Yes.
And the way is hard. And you will be old before you reach the end of
it. But the end will be better that the beginning”
But the young mother was
happy, and she would not believe that anything could be better than
these years. So she played with her children, and gathered flowers
for them along the way, and bathed with them in the clear streams;
and the young mother cried “Nothing will ever be lovelier than
this.”
Then night came, and
storm, and the path was dark, and the children shook with fear and
cold, and the mother drew them close and covered them with her
mantle, and the children said, “Mother, we are not afraid, for you
are near, and no harm can come.” And the mother said, “This is
better than the brightness of day, for I have taught my children
courage.”
And the morning came, and
there was a hill ahead, and the children climbed and grew weary, and
the mother was weary, but at all times she said to the children, “A little patience and we are there.” So the children climbed and
when they reached the top they said, “Mother, we would not have
done it without you.”
And the mother when she
lay down at night, looked up at the stars and said: “This is a
better day than the last, for my children have learned fortitude in
the face of hardness. Yesterday I gave them courage. Today I have
given them strength.
And the next day, came
strange clouds which darkened the earth, - clouds of war and hate and
evil, and the children groped and stumbled, and the mother said: “Look up. Lift your eyes
to the light”
And the children looked
and saw above the clouds a light, and it guided them and
brought them beyond the darkness. And that night the mother said,
“This is the best day of all, for I have shown my children God”
And the days went on, and
the weeks, and the months, and the years. And the mother grew old,
and was little and bent. But her children were tall and strong, and
walked with courage. And when the way was hard they helped their
mother, and when the way was rough they lifted her, for she was as
light as a feather.
And at last they came to a
hill, and beyond they could see a shining road and golden gates flung
wide. And the mother said: “I have reached the end of my journey.
And now I know that the end is better than the beginning, for my
children can walk alone, and their children after them.” And the
children said, “You will always walk with us mother, even when you
have gone through the gates”
And they stood and watched
her as she went on alone, and the gates closed after her. And they
said: “We cannot see her, but she is with us still. A mother like
ours is more than a memory. She is a living presence”.
***
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