Mother

The one who, half-speaking in play's disguise, strung together my words like beads,
In whose warm heart I first understood what love could mean,
To that person I never once said: "I love you, Mother!"

The hand I held to learn my steps,
The throat I grasped to pull myself upright,
Who blocked her own path to teach me mine—
I grew tall, yet never said to her with laughter,
"Come, Mother, let's take a little walk outside!"

Day by day passed, poor Mother aged before my eyes,
All my accumulated this-and-that, my scattered here-and-there,
While tidying it all she crumpled her own skin and flesh,
The mother who raised me so tall—I never asked her,
"Mother, do you feel very tired these days?"

Wanting to glimpse a smile at the corner of my lips,
She staked her life without hesitation,
To keep me well she poured out
Every last drop of blood and sweat—for that mother,
I never had even a moment to give!

When I was small and she'd sing me to sleep,
Or later, when fever claimed me,
She who sat awake through the night's current,
When I'd come home a little late, that person
Who waited by the door, each night,
I never asked her,
"Mother, do you sleep well at night...every night?"

She who spent her whole life fulfilling my whims,
Who accepted even solitude in an empty room for my sake,
Coming home from gatherings or parties to find that mother—
Why didn't I say, "Mother, do you ever feel...terribly alone?"

Her life worn away staying busy around me,
Alas, for that mother I still have no time today!
Yet however I am—thief or saint, blind or lame,
Even if I'm a murderer or bandit, Mother still loves the good in me and kisses my eyes!
How stubborn mothers are—they simply must love their good children!

I found no time to give time.
I found no words to speak words.
I felt no wish to know her wishes.
Still, at day's end, Mother remains Mother!

The sun rises, flowers bloom, birds take flight—
Just as these endure even through apocalypse,
Wherever a child may place their mother, however they act,
Through a hundred storms, in love and tenderness, Mother holds her child to her breast!