Heartfelt Mother's Day Poems That Will Make Mom Smile

Beyond Roses and Chocolates: Poems That Capture a Mother's Essence

Mother's Day poems are a heartfelt way to express gratitude, love, and appreciation for mothers. These poems often reflect on the sacrifices, kindness, strength, and unconditional love that mothers provide. From light and playful verses to deep, emotional reflections, Mother’s Day poems capture the essence of motherhood in different forms.

Themes in Mother’s Day Poems:

• Unconditional Love: Poems often highlight the selfless, unwavering love that mothers give to their children, which remains constant throughout their lives.
• Sacrifice: Many Mother’s Day poems reflect the sacrifices mothers make for the well-being and happiness of their children.
• Nurturing and Care: Poems frequently describe a mother's gentle care, guidance, and the emotional support she provides.
• Wisdom and Strength: Mothers are often portrayed as wise figures who provide advice, guidance, and serve as emotional pillars for their families.
• Nostalgia: Some poems focus on childhood memories, longing for the security of a mother's embrace, and the comforting presence of maternal love.
• Gratitude and Appreciation: These poems are meant to thank mothers for all they do, serving as a reminder that their hard work and love don’t go unnoticed.

Top 20 Poems to celebrate your Mom:

Here’s a list of 20 heartfelt poems that celebrate mothers, capturing their love, sacrifices, and enduring strength. These can be perfect for birthdays, Mother's Day, or just to express appreciation:

1. "Mother" by Lola Ridge

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.

An evocative and poignant tribute to the bond between mother and child, this poem explores deep emotional ties and the selfless nature of a mother's love.

2. "To My Mother" by Edgar Allan Poe

Because I feel that, in the Heavens above,

The angels, whispering to one another,

Can find, among their burning terms of love,

None so devotional as that of “Mother,”

Therefore by that dear name I long have called you—

You who are more than mother unto me,

And fill my heart of hearts, where Death installed you

In setting my Virginia's spirit free.

My mother—my own mother, who died early,

Was but the mother of myself; but you

Are mother to the one I loved so dearly,

And thus are dearer than the mother I knew

By that infinity with which my wife

Was dearer to my soul than its soul-life.

A short but heartfelt dedication where Poe honors not just his biological mother, but the motherly figures in his life.

3. "The Lanyard" by Billy Collins

The other day I was ricocheting slowly

off the blue walls of this room,

moving as if underwater from typewriter to piano,

from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,

when I found myself in the L section of the dictionary

where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.

No cookie nibbled by a French novelist

could send one into the past more suddenly—

a past where I sat at a workbench at a camp

by a deep Adirondack lake

learning how to braid long thin plastic strips

into a lanyard, a gift for my mother.

I had never seen anyone use a lanyard

or wear one, if that’s what you did with them,

but that did not keep me from crossing

strand over strand again and again

until I had made a boxy

red and white lanyard for my mother.

She gave me life and milk from her breasts,

and I gave her a lanyard.

She nursed me in many a sick room,

lifted spoons of medicine to my lips,

laid cold face-cloths on my forehead,

and then led me out into the airy light

and taught me to walk and swim,

and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard.

Here are thousands of meals, she said,

and here is clothing and a good education.

And here is your lanyard, I replied,

which I made with a little help from a counselor.

Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,

strong legs, bones and teeth,

and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered,

and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp.

And here, I wish to say to her now,

is a smaller gift—not the worn truth

that you can never repay your mother,

but the rueful admission that when she took

the two-tone lanyard from my hand,

I was as sure as a boy could be

that this useless, worthless thing I wove

out of boredom would be enough to make us even.

This humorous and touching poem recounts the speaker’s childhood attempt to repay his mother for all her care and affection with a simple, handmade gift.

4. "My Mother" by Ann Taylor

Who fed me from her gentle breast,

And hush’d me in her arms to rest,

And on my cheek sweet kisses prest?

My Mother.

When sleep forsook my open eye,

Who was it sung sweet hushaby,

And rock’d me that I should not cry?

My Mother.

Who sat and watched my infant head,

When sleeping in my cradle bed,

And tears of sweet affection shed?

My Mother.

When pain and sickness made me cry,

Who gazed upon my heavy eye,

And wept for fear that I should die?

My Mother.

Who dress’d my doll in clothes so gay,

And taught me pretty how to play.

And minded all I had to say?

My Mother.

Who taught my infant lips to pray,

And love God’s holy book and day.

And walk in Wisdom’s pleasant way?

My Mother.

And can I ever cease to be

Affectionate and kind to thee,

Who was so very kind to me?

My Mother.

Ah, no! the thought I cannot bear;

And if God please my life to spare,

I hope I shall reward thy care,

My Mother.

Who ran to help me when I fell,

And would some pretty story tell,

Or kiss the place to make it well?

My Mother.

When thou art feeble, old, and gray,

My healthy arm shall be thy stay,

And I will soothe thy pains away,

My Mother.

And when I see thee hang thy head,

‘Twill be my turn to watch thy bed.

And tears of sweet affection shed,

My Mother.

For could our Father in the skies

Look down with pleased or loving eyes,

If ever I could dare despise

My Mother.

This classic poem speaks about the virtues of a mother and the lifelong gratitude a child feels toward her.

5. "Rock Me to Sleep" by Elizabeth Akers Allen

Backward, turn backward, O Time, in your flight,

Make me a child again just for tonight!

Mother, come back from the echoless shore,

Take me again to your heart as of yore;

Kiss from my forehead the furrows of care,

Smooth the few silver threads out of my hair;

Over my slumbers your loving watch keep;—      

Rock me to sleep, mother, — rock me to sleep!

Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years!

I am so weary of toil and of tears,—      

Toil without recompense, tears all in vain,—   

Take them, and give me my childhood again!

I have grown weary of dust and decay,—   

Weary of flinging my soul-wealth away;

Weary of sowing for others to reap;—   

Rock me to sleep, mother — rock me to sleep!

Tired of the hollow, the base, the untrue,

Mother, O mother, my heart calls for you!

Many a summer the grass has grown green,

Blossomed and faded, our faces between:

Yet, with strong yearning and passionate pain,

Long I tonight for your presence again.

Come from the silence so long and so deep;—   

Rock me to sleep, mother, — rock me to sleep!

Over my heart, in the days that are flown,

No love like mother-love ever has shone;

No other worship abides and endures,—      

Faithful, unselfish, and patient like yours:

None like a mother can charm away pain

From the sick soul and the world-weary brain.

Slumber’s soft calms o’er my heavy lids creep;—      

Rock me to sleep, mother, — rock me to sleep!

Come, let your brown hair, just lighted with gold,

Fall on your shoulders again as of old;

Let it drop over my forehead tonight,

Shading my faint eyes away from the light;

For with its sunny-edged shadows once more

Haply will throng the sweet visions of yore;

Lovingly, softly, its bright billows sweep;—   

Rock me to sleep, mother, — rock me to sleep!

Mother, dear mother, the years have been long

Since I last listened your lullaby song:

Sing, then, and unto my soul it shall seem

Womanhood’s years have been only a dream.

Clasped to your heart in a loving embrace,

With your light lashes just sweeping my face,

Never hereafter to wake or to weep;—      

Rock me to sleep, mother, — rock me to sleep! 

A nostalgic poem about yearning for the comfort and love that only a mother can provide.

6. "A Mother’s Love" by Helen Steiner Rice

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

even though the heart is breaking . . .

It believes beyond believing

when the world around condemns,

And it glows with all the beauty

of the rarest, brightest gems . . .

It is far beyond defining,

it defies all explanation,

And it still remains a secret

like the mysteries of creation . . .

A many splendored miracle

man cannot understand

And another wondrous evidence

of God’s tender guiding hand.

A beautiful piece celebrating a mother's love, often recited at events or shared on Mother's Day.

7. "Mother o' Mine" by Rudyard Kipling

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!

Kipling’s touching ode highlights the unconditional and forgiving nature of a mother's love.

8. "The Mother" by Gwendolyn Brooks

Abortions will not let you forget.

You remember the children you got that you did not get,   

The damp small pulps with a little or with no hair,

The singers and workers that never handled the air.   

You will never neglect or beat

Them, or silence or buy with a sweet.

You will never wind up the sucking-thumb

Or scuttle off ghosts that come.

You will never leave them, controlling your luscious sigh,   

Return for a snack of them, with gobbling mother-eye.

I have heard in the voices of the wind the voices of my dim killed children.

I have contracted. I have eased

My dim dears at the breasts they could never suck.

I have said, Sweets, if I sinned, if I seized

Your luck

And your lives from your unfinished reach,

If I stole your births and your names,

Your straight baby tears and your games,

Your stilted or lovely loves, your tumults, your marriages, aches, and your deaths,

If I poisoned the beginnings of your breaths,

Believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate.   

Though why should I whine,

Whine that the crime was other than mine?—

Since anyhow you are dead.

Or rather, or instead,

You were never made.

But that too, I am afraid,

Is faulty: oh, what shall I say, how is the truth to be said?

You were born, you had body, you died.

It is just that you never giggled or planned or cried.

Believe me, I loved you all.

Believe me, I knew you, though faintly, and I loved, I loved you

All.

A powerful, introspective poem that speaks about motherhood, regret, and the weight of choices.

9. "Your Clothes" by Judith Kroll

Of course they are empty shells, without hope of animation.

Of course they are artifacts.

Even if my sister and I should wear some,

or if we give others away,

they will always be your clothes without you,

as we will always be your daughters without you.

A reflection on the loss of a mother, this poem offers a sense of memory and continuity through the things mothers leave behind.

10. "Only One Mother" by George Cooper

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.

A sweet, traditional poem expressing the uniqueness and irreplaceable nature of a mother.

11. "Morning Song" by Sylvia Plath

Love set you going like a fat gold watch.

The midwife slapped your footsoles, and your bald cry   

Took its place among the elements.

Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival. New statue.

In a drafty museum, your nakedness

Shadows our safety. We stand round blankly as walls.

I’m no more your mother

Than the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its own slow

Effacement at the wind’s hand.

All night your moth-breath

Flickers among the flat pink roses. I wake to listen:

A far sea moves in my ear.

One cry, and I stumble from bed, cow-heavy and floral

In my Victorian nightgown.

Your mouth opens clean as a cat’s. The window square

Whitens and swallows its dull stars. And now you try

Your handful of notes;

The clear vowels rise like balloons.

A modern poem that captures the complexity of motherhood with both awe and trepidation.

12. "The Courage That My Mother Had" by Edna St. Vincent Millay

The courage that my mother had

Went with her, and is with her still:

Rock from New England quarried;

Now granite in a granite hill.

The golden brooch my mother wore

She left behind for me to wear;

I have no thing I treasure more:

Yet, it is something I could spare.

Oh, if instead she’d left to me

The thing she took into the grave!—

That courage like a rock, which she

Has no more need of, and I have.

This poem describes the speaker’s deep admiration for her mother’s courage, wishing it had been passed down to her.

13. "My Mother’s Garden" by Unknown

My Mother kept a garden,

a garden of the heart,

She planted all the good things

that gave my life it's start.

She turned me to the sunshine

and encouraged me to dream,

Fostering and nurturing

the seeds of self-esteem...

And when the winds and rain came,

she protected me enough-

But not too much because she knew

I'd need to stand up strong and tough.

Her constant good example

always taught me right from wrong-

Markers for my pathway

that will last a lifetime long.

I am my Mother's garden.

I am her legacy-

And I hope today she feels the love

reflected back from me

This poem uses a garden as a metaphor for a mother’s care and nurturing qualities.

14. "Mothers are a Special Gift" by Faye Diane Kilday

Mothers are a special gift sent

from God above,

They bless us with their nurturing,

And fill us with their love.

They pick us up when we are down,

And when we're sad they know,

They're always there to lend a hand,

And guide us as we go.

And mothers are like special jewels

that can't be bought or sold...

A mother's love's more precious

than the rarest gem or gold.

Yes, mothers are a special gift sent

from God above,

And we'll be blessed forever with

their never ending love!

A heartfelt poem that praises the special qualities and roles of mothers in our lives.

15. "In Her Hands" by Unknown

Her hands held me gently from the day I took my first breath.

Her hands helped to guide me as I took my first step.

Her hands held me close when the tears would start to fall.

Her hands were quick to show me that she would take care of it all.

Her hands were there to brush my hair, or straighten a wayward bow.

Her hands were often there to comfort the hurts that didn’t always show.

Her hands helped hold the stars in place and encouraged me to reach.

Her hands would clap and cheer me on at every practice and every speech.

Her hands soothed my fears and helped me sleep at night.

Her hands were my first example of a mother’s gentle might.

Her hands are now twisting with age and years of work,

Her hand still gently guides me though I don’t need it anymore.

Her hands are more beautiful than anything can be.

Her hands reflect the love she has always shown to me.

A reflective piece on how a mother’s hands represent love, labor, and dedication to her family.

16. "To My Mother" by Christina Rossetti

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.

A Victorian poem that highlights the enduring nature of a mother’s love even in times of difficulty.

17. "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes

Well, son, I’ll tell you:

Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

It’s had tacks in it,

And splinters,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor—

Bare.

But all the time

I’se been a-climbin’ on,

And reachin’ landin’s,

And turnin’ corners,

And sometimes goin’ in the dark

Where there ain’t been no light.

So boy, don’t you turn back.

Don’t you set down on the steps

’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.

Don’t you fall now—

For I’se still goin’, honey,

I’se still climbin’,

And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

This poem is a mother’s words of wisdom and resilience to her son, inspiring perseverance despite hardships.

18. "The Reading Mother" by Strickland Gillilan

I had a mother who read to me

Sagas of pirates who scoured the sea,

Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth,

"Blackbirds" stowed in the hold beneath.

I had a Mother who read me lays

Of ancient and gallant and golden days;

Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe,

Which every boy has a right to know.

I had a Mother who read me tales

Of Gelert the hound of the hills of Wales,

True to his trust till his tragic death,

Faithfulness blent with his final breath.

I had a Mother who read me the things

That wholesome life to the boy heart brings--

Stories that stir with an upward touch,

Oh, that each mother of boys were such!

You may have tangible wealth untold;

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be--

I had a Mother who read to me.

A joyful tribute to mothers who instill a love of reading and learning in their children.

19. "My Mother’s Voice" by Unknown

In the still of the night, when the world is asleep,

I hear my mother’s voice, soft and deep.

Whispering wisdom, comfort, and care,

Her voice lingers always, forever there.

Her words shaped my heart, guided my way,

Taught me to be strong, come what may.

Her laughter, her stories, her gentle advice,

Live in my heart, a lifelong device.

Though years have passed, and distance may grow,

Her voice is the light I always know.

In moments of joy, or when shadows appear,

I hear her voice, calm and clear.

A voice that has soothed, encouraged, and blessed,

Through all of life’s trials, she gave her best.

Now, in the silence, or when life’s a noisy choice,

I carry with me, my mother’s voice.

A lyrical poem that speaks of how a mother's voice remains with her children throughout their lives.

20. "If I Could Tell You, Mother" by Unknown

If I could tell you, Mother,

How much you mean to me,

I think it would take forever,

For you’ve shaped my life, you see.

Your love has been my comfort,

Your wisdom, my guiding light,

Your hands, forever gentle,

Have held me through day and night.

You’ve given me strength to stand tall,

And courage to chase my dreams,

You’ve taught me the value of kindness,

And the worth of little things.

If I could tell you, Mother,

All the things I’ve left unsaid,

You’d know how deeply I cherish

The path that your love has led.

So, I’ll try in every way I can

To show how much I care,

And hope you feel the love I send

In every word and prayer.

A poem expressing the deep emotional connection and gratitude a child feels toward their mother, but may not always articulate.