by Rachel Hunt Steenblik
Jersey City, NJ, USA
As One Whom His Mother Comforteth
She showed Her Son
how to mother, so He
could show the world.
Mother Tree
After nourishing, and digging,
and pruning, and dunging,
and weeping, the Lord of the
Vineyard remembered the Mother
Tree.
He brought Her back to Her
children, then Her children
back to Her, grafting branches
into branches. Their togetherness
preserved—natural branches and roots
and the roots of their Mother Tree.
She bore good fruit.
What Nathan Taught Me
He told me, It is odd that
with all the birthing God does—
a Son, a Holy Spirit, a creation—
that God is called ‘Dad.’
Rather than a mother? I asked.
Rather than Mommy, he answered.
Instead of calling God ‘Abba,’
Jesus should have called him, ‘Mommy.’
In the Guise of an Angel
When Jesus
was sorrowful,
and very heavy,
He cried, Mommy.
She came to Him
from heaven,
strengthening Him.
Tree of Life
When Jesus was on the cross,
His Father might have been
in the farthest reaches of heaven,
for sorrow, and solace.
(We can give Him that.)
His Mother might have been
right there,
branches holding Him—
a weeping willow,
the Tree of Life.
(Originally published in Mother’s Milk: Poems in Search of Heavenly Mother. Republished here with permission from the author.)
Lord of the Vineyard by Rose Datoc Dall