My Mother

Before she was a mother
before she was a wife
she was a full-grown woman
who actually had a life

and then one day she married
and then the children came
and then the dreams she’d harbored
were given to the flame

instead she gave all to her family
as time rolled the decades past
the children grew and scattered
the days were hers again at last

but she always kept on caring
and she always let me know
even as her memories faded
that she still loved me so

and now her journey’s over
her spirit lifted like a dove
but she lives on in my being
and in God’s eternal love