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Show )! at n n lat are Marriage, Motherhood, and Migraines 117 took pictures, continued to entertain visitors, and held picnics. The baby was blessed in the Salt Lake University Ward Sacrament Service on Sunday, June 15. Madelyn's mother was, of course, present at the church blessing, and Madelyn prepared a special poem in her mother's honor. The poem presents, through metaphor, the whole process of becoming a mother, from the fire of sexual passion through the earth-rhythms of gestation to the pain of labor. To describe the intense experi ences of labor and childbirth Madelyn adapts metaphors of flame, storm, embers, and incense-images found elsewhere in her love and nature poems. The poem employs middle triplet stanzas whose first lines rhyme from stanza to stanza while the remaining two themselves form a rhyming couplet. TO MY MOTHER And now I know how a mother grows: The first swift flame of a love complete Flares into her being, still asleep, Glows into her being, warming deep. All life is tuned to the earth's rich beat, The pulse of creation's eternal song, A rhythm of love that is new and strong. She feels the scorch of a wild storm's heat; A spear as of lightning rends her numb Through a roll of harsh thunders stricken dumb. She whirls in the heart of a whole earth's flame, And deep in its embers she learns the name Of real glory and sorrow and love and worth, When she gives to her child this holy birth. Dear Mother, the thanks of my heart and soul Burn incense before thee from love's deep bowl. In a subsequent letter to her mother, Madelyn recalled with gratitude: "You and papa always taught us to learn to endure pain and discomfort, and to philosophize about the difficulties of life."?" |
