For My Mother by May Sarton

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend May 8, 2016   For My Mother   May Sarton

Once more I summon you Out of the past With poignant love, You who nourished the poet And the lover. I see your gray eyes Looking out to sea In those Rockport summers, Keeping a distance Within the closeness Which was never intrusive Opening out Into the world. And what I remember Is how we laughed Till we cried Swept into merriment Especially when times were hard. And what I remember Is how you never stopped creating And how people sent me Dresses you had designed With rich embroidery In brilliant colors Because they could not bear To give them away Or cast them aside. I summon you now Not to think of The ceaseless battle With pain and ill health, The frailty and the anguish. No, today I remember The creator, The lion-hearted.            "For My Mother" is from COMING INTO EIGHTY by May Sarton. Copyright © 1994 by May Sarton. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. About This Poem   “For My Mother” was published in Coming into Eighty (W. W. Norton & Company, 1994).   May Sarton was born in Wondelgem, Belgium, on May 3, 1912. Her numerous collections of poetry include A Private Mythology (W. W. Norton & Company, 1966), Halfway to Silence (W. W. Norton & Company, 1980), and Collected Poems: 1930-1993 (W. W. Norton & Company, 1993). She died on July 16, 1995.   Photo credit: Lotte Jacobi Poetry by Sarton   Collected Poems: 1930-1993 (W. W. Norton & Company, 1993) "Rock Me to Sleep" by Elizabeth Akers Allen "Another Poem for Mothers" by Erin Belieu "The Lioness" by Adrienne Rich Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038