When Mother is the Hardest Word

My ancestors passed down this lament:

Sometimes I feel like a motherless chile,

Sometimes I feel like a motherless chile,

Sometimes I feel like a motherless chile,

A long way from home.

Sometimes mother is the hardest word.

Sometimes mother is a curse word ~ 

not the object of a profane expression, but the subject.

For some the pain of Mother's Day is unbearable:

Those who have lost children

Those who have lost beloved mothers

Those who have been left unexpectedly to become single mothers

Those who have been forced into motherhood

Those who have been raped into motherhood

Those who long for motherhood denied by an uncooperative or betraying body or by lack of a partner and possibility.

Many will weep on Mother's Day.

Few of those tears will be joyful.

Some of us are long past tears.