Saturday, February 8, 2014

The Martyrdom of Motherhood

The worst part of parenting, for me, was the pressure to be perfect.
Fathers don't live with the many reasons their children will, them, reject.
It matters not that the mother must choose to put her own life on the line;
The passive planter of the seed is the parent who is worshiped as divine.

Some believe that mothers are the objects of progeny's worship,
But the "gods" are always free to, their lesser subjects, reject.
When one is found deficient by the god to whom one sacrificed,
The supplicant is encouraged to offer more of one's very life.

This is not the way that humans are taught to see motherhood;
Mothers are seen as the receptacles for all earthly evil and good.
They are also seen as the source, even though they are vessels,
So they are eternally blamed for all universal and earthly ills.

Mothers are also forbidden to ask anything in return;
Demand for justice is reason enough for them to be burned.
My children are long grown, but they still blame me
Because their father didn't think I was as perfect as I should be.

I am weary beyond my human physical capacity;
I will no longer care what others wish that I would be.
It matters no longer to me who thinks I deserve hell;
I simply give what I have, as long as, on earth, I dwell.

I know some will see me as sinner and some as a saint;
The picture of my imprint on earth is not for me to paint.
As a leaf falls and feeds the soil, I see my death;
This is the image that has given my living spirit rest.

I hope the good I gave my children exceeds the bad;
I honestly gave them all the positive energy that I had.
I demand nothing from them because I am not a goddess;
I simply hope they pass on to their children my being's best.