What Makes a Mother?

Brown woman, white children

Many will say that is not her cub,

But a mother is more than biological birth;

It is the nurturing nature of a Woman.

What makes a mother?

Is it met by patriarchal standards:

Wide hips, pleasing smile, manageable temper.

Why does she raise her cub by the standards of man?

I have had several mothers,

All who have taught me

There are many Natures in Life

And many sides of Woman.

Mother has taught me Love:

The side ruled with a belt in hand

The other with a heart on her sleeve

Another as a friend when I had none.

Mother has taught me Faith:

When bills reach glass ceilings,

And man brutalizes and bruises.

When lost in public, we look for hands full of Hope.

Mother has taught me Grace:

During times of discord,

In the face of adversity,

When I am at my lowest.

Lessons of Woman are not always

Taught from our birth mothers,

For Life knows Woman is too powerful

To be contained in one physical body.

I have had many Mothers love me,

Nurture my Soul, when one could not.

For they knew one is not enough

For the woman I would become.

So I ask, what makes a mother;

It is her Love, Faith and Grace

She passes to her many cubs.

I hope I too grow into a fearsome tigress.