"Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have heart, whether our baptism be that of water or tears!”
--Mother's Day Proclamation, Julia Ward Howe, Boston , 1870
She couldn’t anticipate that we’d sip champagne at fancy brunches,
turn her fervor into a hallmark holiday
In the name of womanhood and of humanity
Julia Ward Howe set her soul upon a nobler task
We will not have our great questions decided by irrelevant agencies
Set her courage upon loftier aims
Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause
She spoke of blood and bone
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience
She invoked the language of the womb
We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs
She sounded a clarion call for unity
I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limits of nationality may be appointed
Against all adversity, she audaciously sought to abolish war
to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international question,
She meant for all of us to mother the world
the great and general interests of peace.
She meant for us to mend our rivalries,
go to our rooms until we cooled off,
kiss and make up, the way she knew we could
if we’d just listen to our mothers
Mary Saracino is a novelist, poet and memoir-writer who lives in Denver , CO . Her most recent novel, The Singing of Swans (Pearlsong Press 2006) was a 2007 Lambda Literary Awards Finalist. Her short story, "Vicky's Secret" earned the 2007 Glass Woman Prize.
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