A Mother's job is to protect her child

To care for them

To comfort them

To raise them right

My Mother cared for her children

But only if they behaved

Only if they got straight As

Never if we just tried to stay alive

A Mother's job is to comfort

Always soft as a blanket

Always there to reassure you

Always there to catch you if you fall

My Mother made our cribs with steel

Our blankets were cotton but never wool

Our toys brought us pain but never joy

Our lives were to be confined to a box

A Mother's job is to listen

To understand their child's problems

To encourage the ideas that whir in their minds

To build castles atop of clouds

My Mother told us that silence was golden

That children should be seen and never heard

A lashing for a peep

Maybe no dinner for a week

A Mother's job is to love

To embrace the mistakes

To accept the flaws

To understand imperfections

My Mother claimed love

But love was when she didn't beat

When she didn't yell

When she told us we were doing well

My Mother wasn't perfect

But that's all she wanted from us