The Teaching of Mothers

From the time that a child can perceive,
Long before it sees.
That child learns from his or her mother.
It learns her touch, her smell and her voice.
It hears many sounds but
In this,
the child has no choice.
It must learn from mother.

From the womb,
The child learns connection,
Nurturing and protection.
Though it speaks no words
The child knows
And through this mystery
The child grows.

In the beginning
The child has no questions,
But the mother must answer.
To the calls and cries.
And as the child grows,
Then comes the whys.


Why mama do the birds sings?
Why mama do the bees sting?
Why mama do you sometimes cry?
Why mama,
Why mama why?

Then the difficulties of life begin to take place.
More answers begat more questions.
Commands from youth become grown up suggestions.
Still the child has more questions.
Questions like…
Mama, why cant I just live my life?
Mama, why you don’t like my wife?
And through it all mama is always teaching.
Her words laced with care
Designed for reaching.
Our minds and our hearts.
Helping us to make sense of all the parts.
Of this puzzle we call life.

She is a teacher,
Whether she wants to be or not.
Whether the lessons are sound or lessons to be forgot.
I can learn metaphysics, or exegetical studies,
Hermanuetics and learn from my old school buddies.
And none of that compares to the knowledge I gain
through my mother’s love and my mother’s pain.

When you teach me mother,
I learn, I live, I grow.
I listen, I speak, I know.
God tells you to teach without even saying so.
For that We are all grateful
For the cooking, the cleaning, the dressing, the combing,
The consoling, the laughter, the money loaning.
Yet, it is your teaching that I am most grateful for.
Through your teaching mother, I can aspire to live
And love you even all the more.

Richard J Wright