DEAR MOTHER

So young and eager to learn,

swelling anticipation inside me did burn.

My dear loving mother always stood nigh,

Devoted to teaching and explaining "why".

Curiously running all over the place,

Dear mother never tired, but kept my pace.

I explored and investigated most of the time,

Dear mother encouraging an inquisitive mind.

As seasons changed, I grew older quite fast,

Friends replaced dear mother, a teenager at last.

Now full of independence, my intelligence did grow,

Already I knew more than dear mother could know.

If only she'd learn, "I know what is best",

But she never agreed and I continued life's test.

Through all of my displays of being so smart,

Dear mother still encouraged, with a kind loving heart.

Again Seasons passed, as mother and I grew older,

Now away from dear mother I wish I could hold her.

How quickly dear mother gained such wisdom,

And I realized the many lessons of life I had yet to come.

I'm as a small child, once again,

Filled with questions only time can fill in.

Dear mother as always still lovingly there,

Encouraging the pursuit of all that I dare.

Inspired by her enduring, and loving emotion,

I only pray I'll pass on such devotion.

Karmel (Greene) Larson

I believe this was a college assignment to write a poem, she chose me to write about. Now pregnant with her sixth child in 2011, "I wish I could hold her...Husband and children have replaced dear mother...and she is passing on much more devotion"!