Sunday, February 17, 2019

It Takes a Village

Photography by David Nam Lip Lee
Image Source


Linking with The Sunday Muse for Muse #43
and Poets United for Poetry Pantry # 440
Come join us!


Mothers are the gardeners of the human race. ~Anna A. Rogers


If we lose our mother young
we search our whole life for her
in the faces of strangers
in the arms of those we hold dear
all the roads we take
lead to questions
we never ask
the silence of the unknowing 
becomes the song we always sing
yet somewhere in the place
of holding on and letting go
we find 
that she is all around us
in the void there is an outpouring
that fills up some of the empty places
women have a way of nurturing
the lost child
like the lioness in the pride
will care for another's young
the motherless child
will grow up
and one day
look back
and realize
they found many mothers
God provides one way or another
and that is the answer
to the questions
of a lost child.


©Carrie Van Horn 2019



19 comments:

  1. I recently watched a documentary about the first and second world war... it's amazing how many children that were left without father and mother... these children are all alone us still (aging) there must have been many caring for them...

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  2. This is incredibly touching and beautiful, Carrie. So true.

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  3. Carrie, this is a masterpiece. I love that the motherless child finds mothers and love all around, as they grow. So beautiful. I love it. Wish I had written it.

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  4. I lost my mother recently. I miss her every day. It us hard being an orphan. A grand poem. I will not use the overused word evocative. But this poem is so telling of tragedy in its most desolate kind.

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  5. Intriguing photo .A motherless child is a heartbreaking situation.I agree mothers are the gardeners ad the nurturers. Lovely poem.

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  6. Beautiful and wise and wonderfully rendered. Awesome writing, Carrie.

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  7. all the roads we take
    lead to questions
    we never ask... beautifully said..

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  8. The caregiver we hold most dear when we are younger certainly becomes part of our being, a light to be kept, to be found if lost, a beacon that never dims...

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  9. It is heartbreaking to think of children searching for mothers ‘in the faces of strangers’ and ‘in the arms of those we hold dear’. But you are right, Mother Nature lives in the hearts and souls of women, as you say, who:
    ‘…have a way of nurturing
    the lost child
    like the lioness in the pride
    will care for another's young’.
    I’m currently reading a book set in the Netherlands in WW2, about a child who was passed from home to home, mother to mother, to keep her safe from the Nazis and she didn’t even know that her parents were dead.

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  10. This is an incredibly raw, poignant and heart-stirring write, Carrie!

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  11. The beauty of community living is the protection factor. A motherless child will be taken care of and not left to fend for himself. Very touching Carrie!

    Hank

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  12. It is such a comforting thought that the maternal love and care is still there in the form of different faces and places. It indeed takes a village for nurturing and caring. Such a lovely verse!

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  13. Thank goodness for the loving elders, both blood related and not, who make some space in their hearts for those who need it.

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  14. I'm hearing 'sometimes I feel like a motherless child' in my head. It all feels like a dream, having a mother. Even when she was there I feel part of her was lost to me. But yes, mother can be universal. Thanks for the reminder.

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  15. I so agree with Cooleens comment. The goodness of Mother nature, the universality of caring snd nuturing
    A grand poem Carrie. Happy you dropped by my sumie Sunday

    Much💛love

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  16. That theme of one being part of a long line of people stretching into the ancient past was one which grabbed me too... Very nicely done and thanks for the prompt!

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  17. Carrie, your words are so true and very touching. As you stated God will provide many mothers one way or another. Heartfelt!

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  18. You give that lost child a life, and hope. A heart-warming poem, Carrie.




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  19. My first comment seems to have gone astray:

    Loved the approach, Carrie, and that orphaned children can be loved by others . . . beautifully penned . . :)


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"Our best thoughts come from others." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson