Mother and Son
Along the one-track road
she takes him for a walk.
I have not seen her doing this before.
He is two years old;
until today it's always been
the buggy with eight wheels.
Still a girl herself,
the sun which strokes his head
gilds her hair too.
He claps his hands at ewes
who run towards their lambs
protective as his mother is of him.
She takes his hand in hers.
And yet... and yet ...
he shows his own strong will.
They're holding hands, it's true,
but not as lovers hold, relaxed:
he strains to tug apart.
Despite her fond possession,
anxious, so it seems,
to go his own sweet way,
he senses even now
that dear conflicting bond -
mother versus son -
aware perhaps
that even from the grave
she will possess him still.
she takes him for a walk.
I have not seen her doing this before.
He is two years old;
until today it's always been
the buggy with eight wheels.
Still a girl herself,
the sun which strokes his head
gilds her hair too.
He claps his hands at ewes
who run towards their lambs
protective as his mother is of him.
She takes his hand in hers.
And yet... and yet ...
he shows his own strong will.
They're holding hands, it's true,
but not as lovers hold, relaxed:
he strains to tug apart.
Despite her fond possession,
anxious, so it seems,
to go his own sweet way,
he senses even now
that dear conflicting bond -
mother versus son -
aware perhaps
that even from the grave
she will possess him still.
Page(s) 4
magazine list
- Features
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- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
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- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The