Mother Going To Market

The above photograph was taken by my friend Sui Kang Fook. It won a prize in a photography contest at school. During our meet-ups after many years since we left school, he said this of his mother,

" She poured her life into us."

The photograph and that line worked in my mind and the result was  this poem :

Mother Going To Market

Each day at this time ,
To market , rain or shine
Despite aches and sighs,
Simply, food she got to find.

Each morn as she tilts
The jar to pour her life
Like rain to bless her child-
The strength behind his smile.

Each bruise that she soothes
With tears deep from her heart,
The hands that hold the child
Fragile, but not falling apart.

Each time when we reflect:
After all these pains,
How could we only say
We celebrate Mother's Day ?