Mammy’s only child
My sister say’s her
mother loved her, strange as though it seems,
I tried to recollect
this but only in my dreams,
She say’s she loved
her dearly, of us a baker’s dozen,
I thought she had a
soft spot, for a distant cousin.
In all the years she
knew her mam, her memories are intact,
Mothers favourite she
is heard to shout and this she says is fact,
Her mammy loved but
her alone and dare you contradict,
With all the rest of
us she says her mammy could be strict,
Perhaps I said she
humoured you, while you were growing up,
Kept you smiling long
enough, until you grew enough,
To see that there
were more of us, younger but like you,
Thinking mammy loved
only us, hoping it were true?
A resounding shake of
her blonde hair, and swift decline of truth,
Her mammy loved but
her, she had no time for the youth,
Nor all who dared
come after her, as she was the only one,
None of us could call
her mother, until sister dear was done,
So, we grew up
without a mammy, no one there to call,
Until said sister was
away, and our mother we would call,
Then 12 of us would
share said sister’s only mam,
Each night we prayed
she’d marry some woman or a man,
My sister told her
family her mam loved only she,
And smiled her way
through life, as happy as can be,
None but her existed
in the eyes of her dear mother,
Neither nine of her
dear sisters nor one of her three brothers,
My sister says her
mammy, showed her only love,
held her in such
regard beside only God above,
yes, she loved her
dearly amongst her baker’s dozen,
I still recall well
talked about, not-so-distant cousin.
15- 03- 24
Christy o Donnell
(Which sister huh?)
