26 Famous Mother's Day Poems to Show Your Mom How You Feel
While thoughtful gifts are always a plus, nothing beats the power of words, especially when it comes to a sweet Mother’s Day poem. Sometimes, all she needs to hear is that she is loved, valued, and appreciated. It really is that simple!
Tell Mom just how much you care with a pre-written poem from the likes of poets such as Rupi Kaur and Helen Steiner Rice, or use these beautiful poems as inspiration to write your own sentimental message to Mom, with personalized names, places, and memories to make it extra special. Either way, these poems make for the perfect addition to a Mother’s Day card or Mother’s Day caption accompanying your social media post about her. For the truly brave, you can recite the poem directly to her, either in-person or over the phone — though, the reading may get a bit teary-eyed in the best way possible.
Alongside these poems of love, make sure to do something for Mom to make her day even sweeter, such as serving her breakfast in bed, making her a DIY Mother’s Day gift, or working alongside your kid or sibling to make her a handmade Mother’s Day craft. Above all, make sure Mom knows just how much she is loved — after all, she deserves it.
“Tribute to Mother”
A picture memory brings to me;
I look across the years and see
Myself beside my mother's knee.
I feel her gentle hand restrain
My selfish moods, and know again
A child's blind sense of wrong and pain.
But wiser now,
a man gray grown,
My childhood's needs are better known.
My mother's chastening love I own.
— John Greenleaf Whittier
“To My Mother”
You too, my mother, read my rhymes
For love of unforgotten times,
And you may chance to hear once more
The little feet along the floor.
— Robert Louis Stevenson
“Sonnets Are Full of Love”
Sonnets are full of love, and this my tome
Has many sonnets: so here now shall be
One sonnet more, a love sonnet, from me
To her whose heart is my heart’s quiet home,
To my first Love, my Mother, on whose knee
I learnt love-lore that is not troublesome;
Whose service is my special dignity,
And she my loadstar while I go and come
And so because you love me, and because
I love you, Mother, I have woven a wreath
Of rhymes wherewith to crown your honored name:
In you not fourscore years can dim the flame
Of love, whose blessed glow transcends the laws
Of time and change and mortal life and death.
— Christina Rossetti
"Mother"
Your love was like moonlight
turning harsh things to beauty,
so that little wry souls
reflecting each other obliquely
as in cracked mirrors...
beheld in your luminous spirit
their own reflection
transfigured as in a shining stream,
and loved you for what they are not.
You are less an image in my mind
than a luster
I see you in gleams
pale as star-light on a gray wall...
evanescent as the reflection of a white swan
shimmering in broken water.
— Lola Ridge
“Mother o’ Mine”
If I were hanged on the highest hill,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
I know whose love would follow me still,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
If I were drowned in the deepest sea,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
I know whose tears would come down to me,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
If I were damned of body and soul,
I know whose prayers would make me whole,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
— Rudyard Kipling
"Wonderful Mother"
God made a wonderful mother,
A mother who never grows old;
He made her smile of the sunshine,
And He molded her heart of pure gold;
In her eyes He placed bright shining stars,
In her cheeks fair roses you see;
God made a wonderful mother,
And He gave that dear mother to me.
— Pat O'Reilly
"Only One Mother"
Hundreds of stars in the pretty sky,
Hundreds of shells on the shore together,
Hundreds of birds that go singing by,
Hundreds of lambs in the sunny weather.
Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,
Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,
Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,
But only one mother the wide world over.
— George Cooper
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"Mother"
The water of her womb, your first home
The body she pulled apart to welcome you to the world.
The spirit in you she helped grow with all she knew.
The heart that she gave you when yours fell apart.
You are her soft miracle.
So she gave you her eyes to see the best in the worst.
You carry your mother in your eyes.
Make her proud of all she watches you do.
— Nikita Gill
"I Will Have to Wait Until I'm a Mother"
i struggle so deeply
to understand
how someone can
pour their entire soul
blood and energy
into someone
without wanting
anything in
return
— Rupi Kaur
"Everything Mom"
How did you find the energy, Mom
To do all the things you did,
To be teacher, nurse and counselor
To me, when I was a kid.
How did you do it all, Mom
Be a chauffeur, cook and friend?
Yet find time to be a playmate,
I just can’t comprehend.
I see now it was love, Mom
That made you come whenever I’d call,
Your inexhaustible love, Mom
And I thank you for it all.
— Joanna Fuchs
"A Mother"
A mother wraps her love
around the heart of her child,
keeping each beat steady
through the rhythm of life
until wings take shape
and it's time for the soul
to take flight.
— Christy Ann Martine
"My Heart"
She's always been there for me.
Just talking to her can make me happy.
She tells me of the hard times she's been through
In hopes that I won't go through them, too.
She's an independent woman of stature and grace.
She has beautiful eyes and a lovely face,
An audacious strength from deep inside.
In her I know I can confide.
She's my guardian angel who'll always be
A very special part of me.
She takes pride in caring for her kin.
She gives us hope and things to believe in.
If I didn't have her there for me,
I wouldn't be half the woman I turned out to be.
— Sharlynn N. Manning
"Dear Mother"
I'm writing you to tell you that I love you
Something I hardly ever do.
I never tell you enough how much I love you and
It's something I must do.
I need to let you know mother how much
You really mean to me
So I'm telling you now you mean the world to me.
I need to thank you for all you do for me.
Your unconditional love toward me means a lot to me.
You've never turned your back on me and
I know it's something you'll never do.
Anytime I need someone to talk to
You're always there to help me through
And anytime I need a favor you always seem
To be there, too
There's nothing in this world that I could do
To pay you back for all you do.
When God gave me to you,
That's the best thing he could ever do,
So this poem is dedicated to you
Because I don't know how else to say
Thank You.
— Herman Vymislicky
"What 'Mother' Means"
"Mother" is such a simple word,
But to me there’s meaning seldom heard.
For everything I am today,
My mother’s love showed me the way.
I’ll love my mother all my days,
For enriching my life in so many ways.
She set me straight and then set me free,
And that’s what the word "mother" means to me.
— Karl Fuchs
"M - O - T - H - E - R"
“M” is for the million things she gave me,
“O” means only that she’s growing old,
“T” is for the tears she shed to save me,
“H” is for her heart of purest gold,
“E” is for her eyes, with love-light shining,
“R” means right, and right she’ll always be,
Put them all together, they spell “MOTHER,”
A word that means the world to me.
— Howard Johnson
RELATED: Mother's Day Bible Verses for a Blessed Celebration
"A Mother's Love"
A Mother’s love is something
that no one can explain,
It is made of deep devotion
and of sacrifice and pain,
It is endless and unselfish
and enduring come what may,
For nothing can destroy it
or take that love away,
It is patient and forgiving
when all others are forsaking,
And it never fails or falters
— Helen Steiner Rice
"A Thank You Note"
You have told me
All the things
I need to hear
Before I knew
I needed to hear them
To be unafraid
Of all the things
I used to fear,
Before I knew
I shouldn’t fear them.
— Lang Leav
"Mother"
Your love was like moonlight
turning harsh things to beauty,
so that little wry souls
reflecting each other obliquely
as in cracked mirrors...
beheld in your luminous spirit
their own reflection,
transfigured as in a shining stream,
and loved you for what they are not.
You are less an image in my mind
I see you in gleams
pale as star-light on a gray wall...
evanescent as the reflection of a white swan
shimmering in broken water.
— Lola Ridge
"Land"
My
mother
was
my first country,
The first place I ever lived.
— Nayyirah Waheed
"To My Mother"
To-day's your natal day;
Sweet flowers I bring:
Mother, accept, I pray
My offering.
And may you happy live,
And long us bless:
Receiving as you give
Great happiness.
— Christina Rossetti
"Mother"
A mother loves right from the start,
No matter if her children are near or far apart.
A mother gives never-ending love.
She gives us comfort and peace like a beautiful dove.
For us she will always do her best,
Even when we put her patience to the test.
She wipes our tears,
Chases away our fears,
Encourages us to follow a dream,
No matter how far fetched it may seem.
Her gifts can never compare to any other.
I am so honored to call her my mother.
Looking back on another year,
I was so lucky to have a mother so dear.
So Mom, on your special day, relax and enjoy
And always know that I couldn't have asked for any other
More incredible person to call my mother.
— Jodi L. Landes
"When God Thought of Mother"
When God thought of mother,
He must have laughed with satisfaction,
and framed it quickly —so rich, so deep, so divine,
so full of soul, power, and beauty,
was the conception.
— Henry Ward Beecher
"Mothers Are the Gardeners"
Mothers are the gardeners
Of wind-blown wild flowers.
They water them with happy tears,
Happy with them many years,
Even as the hours
Ring with sweet, sad melodies
Sighing through their bowers.
— Nicholas Gordon
"If I Knew As a Child"
If I knew as a child what I know now, Mom,
I probably wouldn't have made things
so hard for you.
I would have understood
that you were looking out for my best interest,
even though it may not have seemed so at the time.
I would have known how difficult it is to let go,
to stand back and let someone you love
learn from their mistakes.
I would have realized
how fortunate I was to have a mother
who was always there for me,
even after an argument,
even after I'd said things
I shouldn't have.
While it's too late for a lot of things
it's not too late for me to tell you
that I appreciate how loving you are,
how giving you've always been
and that even though
I may not always be good at showing it,
I love you very much.
— Renee Duvall
"A Mother's Day"
A Mother loves right from the start.
She holds her baby close to her heart.
The bond that grows will never falter.
Her love is so strong it will never alter.
A Mother gives never ending Love.
She never feels that she has given enough.
For you she will always do her best.
Constantly working, there's no time to rest.
A Mother is there when things go wrong.
A hug and a kiss to help us along.
Always there when we need her near.
Gently wipes our eyes when we shed a tear.
So on this day shower your Mother with Love.
Gifts and presents are nice but that is not enough.
Give your Mother a day to have some peace of mind.
Be gentle, be good, be helpful, be kind.
— Carol Matthews
"Prayer for My Mother"
Let every moment of every day
break upon her with the dazzle of
utter newness, and let her exult in it.
Let wonder rule: the sky more lovely
than she's ever seen, the birds that
come by the hundred to her feeder.
Please let her forget that she does not
remember. Let her lose somehow
the torment of losing her mind.
Let there be insight in the one page that,
over and over for days, she reads
for the first time, never gets beyond.
Let the living past be vibrant in her
dreams each night, her mother, her brother
at her side, showering her with love.
Please let her eyes open in the morning
not to the despair of the lost at sea,
but to the familiar play of sunlight
in the leaves outside her window,
the solid sense that she is safe,
the firm ground of home.
— Rick Kempa
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