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Poems on Motherhood and Mary

Poems on Motherhood and Mary

Q: Are there any poems dealing with heart-to-heart conversations between Mother Mary and other mothers?

A: There exist a number of poems dealing with heart-to-heart conversations between Mother Mary and other mothers, especially about shared suffering and death.

"An Old Woman's Rosary," H. F. Blunt:

We two women, God's mother and me, Have many a talk of our dead.

Or, think of "Three Mothers Behold Three Crosses" by Mary Adrienne Erain:

On Calvary's hill were three mothers who knelt
Where the fearsome great crosses stood,
And three in their hour of agony felt
They were one in their motherhood.

In "Mothers' Sorrows" by Sr. Mary Antoinette, Mary consoles a mother whose Son has left "to serve in a cruel war":

May thy sad heart take courage
In sorrows that we share
And place thy son forever
In my unfailing care. 

There is the son who compares his mother to Mary in "Two Mothers" by Clarence E. Flynn:

My mother must have measured Mary's mind
and motherhood

In "A Mother's Prayer to Mary," the poet Frederik M. Lynk deals with poverty:

I do not ask for silver or gold ... says the mother ... Pray, send me food for my dear household.

There is also that rather strange and moving complaint of Judas' Mother to Mary (Liam Brophy, "The Mother of Judas to Mary," in Novena News):

Better my body had never borne
My child of darkness to betray ...

and ends with the stanza:

His crimes still mock and crucify
Betray my thwarted motherhood,
And all my strivings went to buy
Haceldama, the Field of Blood.

All About Mary includes a variety of content, much of which reflects the expertise, interpretations and opinions of the individual authors and not necessarily of the Marian Library or the University of Dayton. Please share feedback or suggestions with marianlibrary@udayton.edu.

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