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A Mother’s Day Sonnet

I hope you have a happy Mother’s Day
And take a moment out to feel the love
I’m sending to you there, though faraway,
Like kisses raining down from high above,
Each one a memory of what you’ve done
For me in years that passed and now returned
As does the never-failing rising sun
With all the shining interest that you’ve earned.
And do not doubt that I am there with you
Beside the tree or putting dishes in
Their place; you’ll see me in the lofty blue
Or maybe taking out a garbage bin.
Though vacant I remain your faithful servant,
A fan forever fawning, fresh and fervent.

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Evan Mantyk teaches literature and history in New York and is Editor of the Society of Classical Poets. His most recent books of poetry are Heroes of the East and West, and a translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. 

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The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.


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22 Responses

  1. jd

    Lovely, Evan. I’m sure your Mother loves it. On first reading I felt you were writing it to me, in other words, to every Mother. A perfect offering for the day. Thank you!

    Reply
  2. Jeffrey Essmann

    How wonderful, Evan. I totally agree with jd: I felt that you were writing about MY mother. You’ve managed here to write something utterly personal and marvelously universal. Thanks so much.

    Reply
  3. Mia

    Evan thank you for this beautiful and very moving Mother’s Day sonnet.

    Reply
  4. Warren Bonham

    I may have to steal this and send it to my mother. You said it better than I could have. I really like the alliteration in the last line.

    Reply
  5. Phil S. Rogers

    Brought back many thoughts of my mother who passed decades ago. Thank you for the memories Evan.

    Reply
  6. Roy Eugene Peterson

    This is a wonderful tribute, not only to your mother, but mothers everywhere. I felt the sincerity of the words and noted the lengthy admirable alliteration to conclude. I would have read and sent it to my mother on this day, but she is in one of those “faraway” places we call heaven.

    Reply
  7. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    What a beautiful sonnet for Mother’s Day. For a mother who lives many miles from a Mother’s Day hug, the words have wrapped me in the warmth and wonder of that special bond a mother shares with her children. Thank you, Evan.

    Reply
  8. Allegra Silberstein

    Thank you for your beautiful poem that speaks to me and to many other mothers

    Reply
  9. richard Lackman

    Beautiful poem Evan. You were blessed with a wonderful mother and she was blessed with an amazing son.

    Reply
  10. Shamik Banerjee

    You have beautifully expressed your sentiments, Evan. Yes, mothers deserve the accrued interest for all they did and do for us; but they never demand even an ounce, and that’s where their greatness lies. Thank you for this heartwarming poem on a special day.

    Reply
  12. Brian A. Yapko

    Evan, I simply love this heartfelt tribute to your mother — to our mothers. My own mother has been gone these last 15 years so your line “feel the love
    I’m sending to you there, though faraway…” has special, bittersweet resonance for me. I’m especially charmed by your closing couplet which is permeated with “F” alliterations: “Though vacant I remain your faithful servant,/A fan forever fawning, fresh and fervent.”

    Reply
  13. Joseph S. Salemi

    There’s no way to measure what we owe to our mothers — mostly for good, sometimes for bad, and always in unshakable remembrance.

    Reply
  14. Paul A. Freeman

    My mother passed away last year and lines like ‘you’ll see me in the lofty blue
    Or maybe taking out a garbage bin’ (such an everyday chore) and ‘Though vacant I remain your faithful servant’, really bring home the gap she left.

    Thanks for the read.

    Reply
  15. Norma Pain

    Evan, thank you for this beautiful Mother’s Day poem which brought tears to my eyes also. My mother passed away over fifty years ago and the ache never goes away. Your words are very special to all mothers here and farther away.

    Reply
  17. Adam Wasem

    What a lovely little tribute to the homely everyday moments spent with your mother, somehow plainspoken, polished, and lyrical all at once. Wonderfully charming.

    I have to confess, I can’t tell what you meant to convey with the seemingly unusual word choice of “vacant” in your concluding couplet, as the word seems rarely used outside of referring to property, when “absent” would seem to fill the meaning better and draw less attention to itself. I’m no expert on allusions, though.

    Reply
  18. Evan Mantyk

    Thank you, everyone, for your comments!

    Adam Wasem, that’s a good question. Perhaps it is the idea of the role of the son being left vacant due to living a great distance apart. The last couplet tends to be where strange and new perspectives emerge.

    Reply
  19. Daniel Kemper

    Very sweet, I’ll bet your mom loved it! Sometimes it’s not easy to write tribute poems, especially to parents. Maybe it’s just too close. You’ve created a wonderful gift for mother’s day!

    Reply
  20. Sally Cook

    Our mothers never really leave us, nor can we forget them. I’ve had so many inexplicable experiences which prove mine is still with me. Thanks, Evan for honoring all mothers with your poem. You know what made us what we are.

    Reply
  21. Joshua C. Frank

    Evan, this is beautiful! Your mother must be so proud.

    There really is nothing like the mother-son relationship.

    Reply
  22. Adam Sedia

    The heartfelt love and admiration is apparent in the simplicity of the language.

    Reply

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