On Mother’s Day, across the wide, round world,
Wise Ones gather on bustling urban street corners,
in flower-laden parks, in school yards laced
with the laughter of children,
on mountaintops, and pasturelands brimming
with bleating sheep, grazing cows.
South to north, east to west, they ask
for five sacred minutes of silence to save the world.
Grandmas, Nanas, Abuelas, Nonne, Grands-mères.
Their bodies cradle life’s blessings and burdens,
their bones bear the memory of childbirth,
their breasts recall the tender lips of suckling infants,
their hands, stained with the salty residue of tears,
tremble with compassion.
Warriors of Justice, these Crones dream a world
of peace for every child, seven generations to come;
a world of clean air and safe water, enough food
to quell hungry bellies, enough schoolbooks
to feed growing minds, enough medicine
to curb disease, heal the many woes that ail us.
Those whose wombs have borne the wealth of ages
labor now to banish violence from every home,
birth a globe where fear and war are obsolete.
Asking only five meager minutes of silence,
they implore us to stand strong beside them,
before our world-weary legs can no longer
bear the many sorrows of our planet.
Great and silent, the Grandmothers urge us
to gather our courage, impart 300 seconds of peace,
pledge our hearts to a different path,
honor our children, whose fragile lives depend
on how well we are able to mend
the deep, round Mother-soul of the world.
Mary Saracino is a novelist, poet, and memoir writer who lives in Denver, CO. Her latest novel, The Singing of Swans, is a Lambda Literary Awards finalist in the Spirituality category. For more information visit www.pearlsong.com or www.marysaracino.com.