This month in honor of Mother’s Day, I am sharing one of my personal favorites—a very special poem I wrote to my own daughter while she served in the United States Coast Guard. I am humbled in that this poem has circulated wide and far,word having gotten back to me that some very special things have been accomplished with it in setting relationships right and as last prayers of a dying parent to their children. Please know you may need a tissue on hand while reading. 

If I could be a wall for you, I would my child.

If I could be a sword for you,

I would that, too.

And if I could, a sentry man be

that stands guard in your dreams,

I would stand fierce and true.

I would stand as a massive fortress between you

and life’s arrows. I’d slay your fire-breathing dragons

and shield you from the illusive shadows that call.

I would hold you close in my arms and

sing you lullabies like when you were small.

I would take your pain.

But I cannot.

I’m only a mortal given a child on loan.

and it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done

to stand and watch while you become

a person of your own.

To accept you must fight your own dragons,

shed your own tears and fend off

dark phantoms who stalk your sleep.

I can only stand and perceive that I love you

with every heart’s beat, with every breath

that I breathe.

And to love you is to let you go, to allow you

your time and your pain, your right to

your own life, knowing that the tragedies

of today are the seeds of tomorrow’s gains.

And my love for you, my child, is a deep ache inside;

yet this one thing I know—that when God

reclaims my soul, my last breath

will be a prayer for you.

© 1993 ~ S. Wolfington