MOTHER OF NONE

Words by Elizabeth Mathers 

there is no name for me, a mother of none 

I am half an orphan, still, that is not my name
my baby gone. I am a mother of none 

My hallowed womb a ransacked tomb. 

I held her in my arms with every dream I ever had,
every truth I ever knew, every question I sought to answer 

gone 

I held my eyes open because hers would not
and I traced the waves of hair on her scalp
and I pinched her ears and wiggled her toes
my soul no longer staked to me
I sought another offering to give 

My heart,
my heart,
I no longer have a name. 

Maybe this is God; this love so sacred all of my mothers grew into her. 

“Why take her and leave me with all this love with no vessel to pour into. 

To feed her the stories I have heard from my mother's mother's mother's mother's mother..." 

My shaking cries are a hailstorm over a lake
that pulverize and scorch the earth.
That's all part of the cycle that helps the iris bloom.