Mothers & Mothering

  • “You Are As My Mother”

    You are as my mother 
    aspired to be: 
    when I look in your eyes 
    – it’s her love I see. 

    This is reprised (“haiku’d”) as

    You are as my mother 
    – it’s her love I see. 

    Which can be further abbreviated to

    You are 
    – I see. 

    And the “you” is anyone, everyone, anything, everything. And in this context the “see” means to Know in

  • “Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904)”

    At the end of his tragically short life (1850-1904), Lafcadio Hearn, “Japan’s Greatest Interpreter,” wrote this in his Reverie.* Especially poignant as he had been separated from his mother since he was two:

    “It has been said that men fear death much as the child cries at entering the world, being unable to know what loving