Mother's Day

Unfortunately both my mother and mother-in-law are gone now. So, this post is dedicated to mothers near and far, to mothers in this country and the world over. I shall write more on my mother later, in another post.


Many years ago, when I was a young mother in the 1970s, I planted over a hundred rose bushes in my garden. Along the years, due to bad weather, insects and neglect, the rose bushes disappeared. But one old rose, somehow, became wild and started growing amongst the weeds and the honeysuckle, and this year, even climbed a tree.

Only One Mother

Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,
Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,
Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,
But only one mother the wide world over.
-George Cooper

Since my mother did not speak English, here is a poem she would have liked -

Pour ma mère

Il y a plus de fleurs
Pour ma mère, en mon coeur,
Que dans tous les vergers ;

Plus de merles rieurs
Pour ma mère, en mon coeur,
Que dans le monde entier ;

Et bien plus de baisers
Pour ma mère, en mon coeur,
Qu’on en pourrait donner.
-Maurice Carême (1899-1978)