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Sonnet for Mom

(October 21, 1933 – March 28, 2014)

I could not see how much she cared for me;
Her faults were amplified in my young mind.
But now I’m only left with memories;
Perspective changes as I look behind.
True need in childhood days I did not know;
She fixed three meals a day and then she made
The time to help me with my math. She sewed
My clothes, and taught me how to cook and bake.
She worked from home so she was always there,
Meticulously keeping her domain,
Ensuring that for life I was prepared,
And sacrificing so I’d have great gain.
__She did not say, “I love you,” to my face;
__Her love in action did her words outpace.

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Gigi Ryan is a wife, mother, grandmother, and home educator. She lives in rural Tennessee.

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24 Responses

    • Gigi Ryan

      Your welcome, Peg. Thanks for reading. Sharing my mom is the least I can do to honor her memory.

      Reply
  2. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Precious tribute to your mom. Our mothers often have sacrificed for us and too often we do not know or understand what they did for us until too late to thank them. You said it beautifully and with heartfelt love and feelings.

    Reply
    • Gigi Ryan

      Thank you, Roy. That is so true. It helps me to have grace for my kids when I think of this. I trust that someday they will look back on these years with eyes of wisdom, as I did.

      Reply
    • Gigi Ryan

      Thank you, jd. Sadly, this I didn’t write until many years after her passing. However, our relationship was strengthened before her death, even including her saying, “I love you,” in response to my saying so to her.

      Reply
  4. Allegra Silberstein

    Thank you for this thoughtful poem so true for many of us. Allegra

    Reply
    • Gigi Ryan

      Dear Allegra,
      Thank you for your comment. It took me a while to realize that personal poems had the potential to encourage and bless others.

      Reply
  5. Rohini

    A beautiful tribute to your mother. We belong to an age in which we believed that actions indeed spoke louder than words

    Reply
    • Gigi Ryan

      Thank you, Rohini. I agree with you. Like faith, words without actions are dead. As James said, “I will show thee my faith by my works.”

      Reply
  6. Drilon Bajrami

    Thank you for sharing something so personal to us all, it was a touching and emotional read.

    Reply
    • Gigi Ryan

      Dear Drilon, Thank you for your comment. It is a privilege to touch the hearts of others.

      Reply
  7. Yael

    That’s a lovely and very heart warming sonnet which is a joy to read, thank you for sharing.

    Reply
  8. Shamik Banerjee

    Such a beautiful and touching tribute. The couplet sums it all up. Thank you for sharing it with us, Ms. Ryan.

    Reply
  10. Satyananda Sarangi

    This is an evocative piece, more because of how I happened to write one for my mother few months back.

    Thank you for this.

    Reply
      • Satyananda Sarangi

        This was my poem a year ago.

        A Mother’s Love

        The first breath of your love, a scented breeze
        Caressing the flower of my childhood;
        Yet in winter, the sun behind the trees,
        Whose warm presence in youth I understood.

        What could match those years spent in such a blissful state,
        Or what love be made of such a sincere touch?
        Independent of time, space, twisted fate;
        A love that didn’t change when I changed so much.

        Is life a mendicant, helpless and scorned
        To have outlived a mother’s precious care?
        If so, then let this bitter truth be mourned,
        For there is no love when she is not there.

        – Satyananda Sarangi

  11. Sally Cook

    I learned so much from my mother’s example, and have written such a Lot about my mama. Never expressed it enough while she lived, just hoped she knew, but was never sure. So happy to know others also have tried to make up for this in our lives, and in our work.
    Thank you for raising this topic.

    Reply
  12. Sally Cook

    I learned so much from my mother’s example, and have written a lot about my mama. Never expressed it enough while she lived, just hoped she knew,, but was never sure. So happy to know others also have tried to make up for this in our lives, and in .our work.
    Thank you for raising this topic.

    Reply

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