MOTHERS

Had I been Joseph's mother
I'd have prayed
protection from his brothers:
"God keep him safe;
he is so young,
so different from
the others."
Mercifully
she never knew
there would be slavery
and prison, too.

Had I been Moses' mother
I'd have wept
to keep my little son;
praying that she might forget
the babe drawn from the water
of the Nille,
had I not kept
him for her
nursing him the while?
Was he not mine
and she
but Pharaoh's daughter?

Had I been Daniel's mother
I should have pled
"Give victory!
This Babylonian horde --
godless and cruel --
don't let them take him captive
-- better dead,
Almighty Lord!"

Had I been Mary --
Oh, had I been she,
I would have cried
as never mother cried,
". . . Anything, O God,
anything . . .
but crucified!"

With such prayers
importunate
my fine wisdom
would assail
Infinite Wisdom;

God, how fortunate
Infinite Wisdom
should prevail!

Ruth Bell Graham