I got a little sentimental tonight
and started thinking about this poem
and motherhood
and wanted to share it with you.
It’s been on my web site for years
and I have always thought it summed up my feelings for my children
perfectly.
Since I wrote it I have had two more children,
two boys to add to the girls,
two more sets of eyes,
so I’ve had to update it from the original
but the feelings are the same.
Forgive the bit of sentimentality…
Flight
I know women
who would lose their children
like throwing off a robe,
unbraiding a red ribbon
and discarding it, to let
their wild self fly free.
I know women
who put aside their children
like cheap jewelry by the side of the bed.
I know women
who never seem to wear them at all.
My children, I do not want
to be free of you.
You are like my wedding rings
which I could easily slip out of
but wear
every day that my heart beats.
I want you near me.
My boys, my girls, my husband,
when I see a sunset
I want these two eyes
to be part of the twelve who see it.
I want our laughter and stories
to be so tangled
that our memories weave into one dream.
This is my time with you.
Soon enough, you will be off
swimming your own new seas.
Soon enough, we will step back and watch you
blooming and bursting in solitary ways
in your own fresh, separate skins.
How could I waste this?
Oh my darlings, you are not my cage.
You are my wings.
(Alicia Bayer)
Kiss your babies, count your blessings
and don’t forget to take care of you!
~Alicia
Beautiful Alicia!!
this is so lovely…..it describes how I feel so well. you have a way with words! a great reminder..
I love this poem!
It captures my feelings perfectly. It is like looking a photograph of my feelings for my family. I can’t thank you enough. It is easy to feel like we should be mothers who set their children aside sometimes. There seems to be a certain societal pressure towards this somehow. Thanks for giving these feelings a voice. Beautiful.
Lyn
Alicia, that is gorgeous! I love it!
Alicia, your love for your children shines so beautifully in these lines, and inspires me to love more. Thank you so much.