Mothers' Day

My Lord, I have asked You in their name:
that You carpet the world for them
with roses, if Your hands permit,
and with violets after that;
that love of life be breathed into them,
and love for them without reproach.

We walk upon their eyelids,
and take our bearings from their hearts.
Their paradise and their misery
are a smile from us, and a moan.
Our shelter in the world's exile,
and the choicest of every paradise.
My Lord, I have asked of You a mercy:
the face of heaven, and their faces.

You entrusted them with life,
and You were within their wombs,
and of the beatings of Your heart You left
one beat within their breasts.
So wipe the wounds with Your fingertip,
and turn back the points of the spears,
that Your sun may look forth in the morning
and every mother be at peace.