Happy Mother's day!

From:
http://worldunderstandingandpeace.com/7-poems/

A MOTHER’S TEARS, WHAT FLAVORS DO THEY COME IN?What flavors do a mother’s tears come in?
What about her heartbroken grief,
Her sobs and cries of pain and anguish,
The pain for a child lost that sears her soul,
For a child she nursed and cared for - for years.
What flavors do a mother’s tears come in?

Salty, I imagine is the taste of a mother’s tears,
As they gush from her soul through her eyes,
And the torrents of tears flow over her lips.
But is there a Moslem flavor, and a Christian one?
Is there a Shiite flavor and a Sunni one?
Is there a Hutu flavor and a Tutsi one?

Does her heartbroken grief at the loss of a child,
Her piercing wailing cries, come in different brands?
Does it feel differently? Does it hurt differently?
If she is Irish Catholic, or Irish Protestant?
If she is Hindu or Sikh; if she is rich or poor?
If she is Ethiopian or Eritrean; or white, black, brown or yellow?
Or Somali, Sudanese, or Yemeni?
If she is Iraqi or American; Palestinian or Israeli?

What flavors do a mother’s tears come in?
Do they have different shapes or different colors?
If she is from one group or the other?
What flavors do her grief and pain come in?

War! Oh bringer of pain and sorrow,
That time struggles to heal, even if only incompletely,
War you squanderer of precious lives!
Lives lost never to be recovered again!!

- Jan. 2007