On This Mothering Sunday

I reflect on those mothers
who reflect on the world they live in
and refracted on possible worlds to come,
as they seek to create the place they feel safe,
and see as safe for their children.

When what the children need is their mother
as part of the corner team in their heads
as they face the aggression of school and life,
well beyond the front door of their parents house.

The mothers who are best prepared will recognise
worlds well beyond what they have lived through
on which ther children will have the choice:
Refuse? Or accept? Negotiate? The child will be able to choose
becauase they can 'read' the world, the room, the scene, they are in.

Without being there, their mothers read it before them,
and the child has the vision, like their mothers,
to see beyond where they have never been before
and feel confident as they guide themselves beyond it all.

My prayers will be for the children of mothers
who, without thnking, bind their children to themseves
as if the mother were the centre of the universe
where the father of the universe is made out to be
a distant figure who is seen to be the cause of all conflict.