mammy's only child

 

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?)