Poem 5: Mothers

MOTHERS

© Stevie Dufyn November 2022

The mother bore her fifth child, in a dark cave.
Sheltered from the heat, cold, and wild creatures.
Married not by choice or for pleasure
Within the relentless cycle of life and death.

Her daughters minded her little ones, as she had done
In her own childhood, until her first pregnancy.
She knew her role, child-bearing and rearing,
And with her sisters, preparing food and clothing.

For the girls at their menarch, marriage will be arranged,
As hers was. She had no say then or now,
Her father and uncles choosing a cousin.
To keep wealth within the clan.

So the cooperative cycle of childcare continued
As the way life happened. No room for self,
Nor remembered names for wives, mothers or daughters,
But they had a kinship excluding fathers, brothers, uncles and other males.

Evolution at a crossroads, the male path leading to conflict,
The female to cooperation. The paths collide in war
When women are raped, captured for sex, murdered,
Men and women a separate species to each other.

Time moves on, but the patriarchy remains, now contested.
Women are beaten, killed, raped, without consequence,
Mutilated, forced into marriage and childbearing,
Subjected perpetually to the male gaze. The past is the present.

Women childless not by choice are cursed now as then,
Feeling at fault, unblessed by God, despised by others
Whilst men not supporting their children are condoned
In a society ruled without equity with double standards.

But from of old, Bible women had spirit. Eve took charge,
Lot’s unnamed daughters seduced their father
Leah cheated cheater Jacob, and outfought her sister Rachel.
Tamar accused father in law Judah, her accuser,

Zipporah circumcised husband Moses, bridegroom of blood
Fighting demonic peril. Miriam his sister sang,
Deborah led a battle, Jael plotted and killed,
But most suffered, humiliated, scorned, killed.

Much like today. Every effort made to ignore women’s voices,
To inhibit their progress through barriers and gatekeepers.
Coercive control not just at home, but in the streets
And in the workplace too.

Progress cannot be taken for granted.
Politicians are not rational, nor the voting public.
The popular voice stirred by prejudiced propaganda
Is not divine, but easily led, deceitfully unjust.

Mothers nurture children’s enthusiasms and relationships,
Honesty, cooperation, self discipline, politeness, creativity.
Schools have incompatible interests, of compliance,
Obedience to authority, challenging nothing.

I was a child carer, mother to younger sibs, 
So school was not that great, and I was not great at school.
Suffering physical assault from some staff, emotional assault from others.
Every effort made to make learning unpleasant.

Mothers build family values, for good and bad,
Maybe in spite of fathers with fractured egos.
The mother child bond may be strong even when, especially when,
The mother/father, husband/wife bond is weak

© Stevie Dufyn, December 2022.