Mother Is a Word Called Love

Mother is a word called love,

And all the world is mindful of

That the love that’s given and shown to others

Is different from the love of mothers . . .

For mothers play the leading roles

In giving birth to little souls—

For though small souls are heaven-sent

And we realize they’re only lent,

It takes a mother’s loving hands

And her gentle heart that understands

To mold and shape this little life

And shelter it from storm and strife . . .

No other love than mother love

Could do the things required of

The one to whom God gives the keeping

Of His wee lambs, awake or sleeping . . .

So mothers are a special race

God sent to earth to take His place,

And “Mother” is a lovely name That even saints are proud to claim.

Helen Steiner Rice, Virginia Ruehlmann, and Patsy Clairmont, The Poems and Prayers of Helen Steiner Rice (Grand Rapids, MI: Revell, 2004).