My sweet mother lived during the great depression
it should’ve left that sweet child with a bad impression
she later lived through
a school building explosion at a neighboring school killing her small friends
Ones she would never see again because most of them that horrible day met their end
Early losses in life should’ve made her hard and bitter
but she became very kind she wouldn’t become a quitter
I asked her one time how she could end up so kind
she said it’s better to have one true friend that many enemies you’ll find
her take on life was always to go the extra mile
even when things are bad or ugly meet them with a smile
late one night when I couldn’t sleep
I got up slowly to the living room I sneaked
Just to listen to all the night sounds
While the family was in bed, finally not around
I heard a sound coming from the kitchen
it was a voice I got close So I could listen
it was my mother with her head in her hands her voice barely a whisper
but I heard enough to know she needed more than any of us could give her
It didn’t take me getting a graduate course
for me to understand her secret source
she was kind because she relied on someone stronger
than her self
That was The-real reason every day she could be kind, and leave bitterness on the shelf
