Is there a mother past or present who can say that at some moment this verse by Joan Ryder-Healy, Chatswood NSW in The Australian Women’s Weekly, October 2, 1974 does not/ has not applied. The verse is set into a full page picture of a lone young woman strolling on the edge of the waves on the beach and it a perfect match for Mother’s Day. Enjoy.
Trinity
Just for this moment I am neither wife,
nor child nor mother-
only myself, with this
immensity of sea and sky engulfing,
and underfoot the heat -hazed sand.
Here, alone on the shore, I am free to be
my own woman for this time; to find myself,
to feel, to watch, discover!
Where is she, where? –
This being other than eternal female;
Daughter, Mother, Wife!
I search behind closed lids and red lights dance..
but there is nothing.
No aim, no goal, no purpose to declare;
nothing to contribute, nothing to proclaim!
Am I a person – or a three-way mirror, ever
reflecting?
I must let this sun and sea and solitude
soak into me, this quiet time alone: let
its strength flow into me like a healing balm
so I may give out again for those I love.
The Museum remains closed due to the virus until further notice.
