Editor’s Note: The poetry in this week’s blog post come from older issues of La Leche League News, a bimonthly LLLI publication for members, firstpublished in 1958. The name was changed to New Beginnings in 1985. New Beginnings was acquired by La Leche League USA in 2010 and continued to be published as a magazine until 2014, when it was converted to its current weekly blog format at www.lllusa.org/blog/

You can read more poetry posts on our blog here.

Yes, Again
By Emily F. (1975)

I have another baby now –
It seems I had forgotten how
He soon could rule my ordered ways,
And make me pattern all my days
To suit him.

He’ll grow too quickly from my breast.
Each moment must be treasured, lest
I miss a smile meant for me.
The time we spend apart can’t be
Recaptured.

These hours and days we share I keep
Within the private place that’s deep
In every mother’s heart, to blend
With joys and griefs that life will send
Tomorrow.

A Riddle
By Marge P. (1979)

A six-legged creature God made me,
And yet I travel slow;
For six legs all of different lengths,
Make traveling slow to go.

I have six eyes to see the world,
But each see a different view,
and what one finds a pleasant sight,
Another wants to shoo!

I have six ears, six hands, and arms,
Which constantly do battle,
Three tongues inside three different mouths,
All voicing different prattle.

Three minds within three separate heads
Do not agree on much.
What time for sleep? What food to eat?
What book to read? And such…

And yet all parts are stuck like glue.
None willing to divide.
Each tries to pull the rest with him.
Together side by side.

Some days are filled with push and shove,
And I cry to be free.
To shake these clinging multiples
And only to be me.

But well I know as time goes on,
Metamorphosis will come;
And where three bodies tangle now,
I will be left with one.

Alone, at last, I’ll sigh deep sighs,
Remembering with a tear,
When six arms hugged, a warm embrace,
“I love you, Mommie dear!”

Reflections
By Elsie M. (1969)

Out of eternity
We two have this:
Moments of ecstasy,
Seconds of bliss.

Here as I sit
With my child at my breast,
Away drifts the world
With its wars and unrest.

When then, little sweetheart,
Do I sit and weep?
Why do my tears wet
Your untroubled cheek?

I weep because you, child,
Will grow up so soon
And I’ll sit with memories
Alone in this room.

Then let me remember
That life gave me this:
Out of eternity
Moments of bliss.

Motherhood (or How I Spend My Days Off)
By Susan O. (1979)

You know motherhood is getting to you
When you pour your morning coffee.
In your son’s bottle.

You know motherhood is getting to you
When you tie your shoelaces in double knots.

You know motherhood is getting to you
When you try to sleep amidst the cacophony of
Your husband’s snores,
Your daughter’s coughs,
Your son’s giggles in his sleep,
Your newborn’s grunts and snorts…
And you wonder why you ever read THE FAMILY BED.

You know motherhood is getting to you
When you put your nursing nightgown on
Backward.
And you don’t discover it until someone
Lets you know at 2 a.m.
Boy, does he let you know!

But most of all,
You know motherhood is getting to you
When your littlest one
Throws his arms about your neck
And says,
“I love you, Mommy!”

And then it’s too late.
Motherhood has got you.

Submit your poems and stories to Kylie at [email protected]

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