25 Mother’s Day Poems That Will Melt Her Heart
Updated: May 19, 2023
This Mother's Day, show the mama bear in your life just how much she means to you by sharing exquisitely crafted words from some of history's greatest poets
Mother’s Day poems to express your love
Given how much the mothers in our lives have done—and continue to do—for us, it can be difficult to express all of our love, admiration and appreciation in Mother’s Day cards. After all, there is a truly special bond between mothers and their children, and you may need some fresh Mother’s Day ideas. While there are all sorts of thoughtful Mother’s Day gifts you could give to bring a smile to your mother’s (and mother figures’) face, why not also share the art of poetry? These sweet and heartwarming excerpts of Mother’s Day poems from history’s best poets are sure to convey your love and impress her.
While you’re at it, you can also get some inspiration from these Mother’s Day greetings and Mom quotes. Whether you’ll be celebrating the day by treating her to brunch at her favorite restaurant, watching Mother’s Day movies, listening to Mother’s Day songs or reading Mother’s Day stories together, make sure to shower her with love. And of course, don’t forget to look up “When is Mother’s Day” ahead of time!
“if there are any heavens”
if there are any heavens my mother will(all by herself)have
one. It will not be a pansy heaven nor
a fragile heaven of lilies-of-the-valley but
it will be a heaven of blackred roses
—e.e. cummings
Pair this Mother’s Day poem fragment with these gorgeous and fragrant Mother’s Day flowers.
“My Mother Would Be a Falconress”
My mother would be a falconress,
and I her gerfalcon raised at her will,
from her wrist sent flying, as if I were her own
pride, as if her pride
knew no limits, as if her mind
sought in me flight beyond the horizon.
—Robert Duncan
Looking for a Mother’s Day gift but find yourself strapped for time? No worries—check out these last-minute Mother’s Day gifts!
“To My Mother”
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.
—Edgar Allan Poe
Show your devotion to your mother figures and mothers-in-law with these Mother’s Day gift baskets.
“Prayer for a New Mother”
Let her have laughter with her little one;
Teach her the endless, tuneless songs to sing,
Grant her her right to whisper to her son
The foolish names one dare not call a king.
—Dorothy Parker
There’s something so sweet about a new mother and her little son. Check out these mother-son quotes as well.
“Mama Never Forgets Her Birds”
Mama never forgets her birds,
Though in another tree—
She looks down just as often
And just as tenderly
As when her little mortal nest
With cunning care she wove—
If either of her “sparrows fall,”
She “notices,” above.
—Emily Dickinson
Show your mama bird how much you care about her as well with these DIY Mother’s Day gifts.
“Butterfly Laughter”
In the middle of our porridge plates
There was a blue butterfly painted,
And each morning we tried who should reach the
butterfly first.
Then the Grandmother said, “Do not eat the poor
butterfly.”
That made us laugh.
Always she said it and always it started us laughing.
It seemed such a sweet little joke.
I was certain that one fine morning
The butterfly would fly out of the plates,
Laughing the teeniest laugh in the world,
And perch on grandmother’s lap.
—Katherine Mansfield
Grandmothers inspire so much gentle joy, so make sure to get one of these Mother’s Day gifts for your grandma.
“To My Mother”
O thou whose care sustained my infant years,
And taught my prattling lip each note of love;
Whose soothing voice breathed comfort to my fears,
And round my brow hope’s brightest garland wove;
To thee my lay is due, the simple song,
Which Nature gave me at life’s opening day;
To thee these rude, these untaught strains belong,
Whose heart indulgent will not spurn my lay.
O say, amid this wilderness of life,
What bosom would have throbbed like thine for me?
Who would have smiled responsive?—who in grief,
Would e’er have felt, and, feeling, grieved like thee?
Who would have guarded, with a falcon-eye,
Each trembling footstep or each sport of fear?
Who would have marked my bosom bounding high,
And clasped me to her heart, with love’s bright tear?
—Lucretia Maria Davidson
Handwrite this stirring Mother’s Day poem in one of these beautiful printable Mother’s Day cards, and your mom will definitely be moved!
“Delicate Cluster”
Ah to sing the song of you, my matron mighty!
My sacred one, my mother.
—Walt Whitman
If she likes this short Mother’s Day poem, she’ll really love these belly laugh-inducing mom jokes.
“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!
—Elizabeth Akers Allen
Mothers truly have the patience of saints! Pair these Mother’s Day poems with some Amazon Mother’s Day gifts to show her your gratitude.
“The Mother of a Poet”
She is too kind, I think, for mortal things,
Too gentle for the gusty ways of earth;
God gave to her a shy and silver mirth,
And made her soul as clear
And softly singing as an orchard spring’s
In sheltered hollows all the sunny year,
A spring that thru the leaning grass looks up
And holds all heaven in its clarid cup,
Mirror to holy meadows high and blue
With stars like drops of dew.
—Sara Teasdale
“Home”
Here is a thing my heart wishes the world had more of:
I heard it in the air of one night when I listened
To a mother singing softly to a child restless and angry in the darkness.
—Carl Sandburg
If your mom swoons over this happy Mother’s Day poem, she may be interested in the perfect Mother’s Day celebration, based on her zodiac sign.
“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, and this my tome”
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
For more words of wisdom that’ll touch her heart, check out these mother-daughter quotes when you’ve had your fill of Mother’s Day poems.
“The Reading Mother”
I had a Mother who read me tales
Of Celert 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.
—Strickland Gillilan
If your mother is also a bookworm, check out the mother-daughter books you really need to read.
“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.
—Lola Ridge
“A Mother’s Name”
I love the sound! The sweetest under Heaven,
That name of mother,—and the proudest, too.
As babes we breathe it, and with seven times seven
Of youthful prayers, and blessings that accrue,
We still repeat the word, with tender steven.
Dearest of friends! dear mother! what we do
This side the grave, in purity of aim,
Is glorified at last by thy good name.
—Eric Mackay
“Mother’s Way”
If our home be bright and cheery,
If it holds a welcome true,
Opening wide its door of greeting
To the many — not the few;
If we share our father’s bounty
With the needy day by day,
‘Tis because our hearts remember
This was ever mother’s way.
—Abram Joseph Ryan
Although we don’t often appreciate it until afterward, mothers truly know best. Here are the wisest pieces of advice we ever got from Mom.
“The Mother’s Kiss”
Life grew so radiant and so opulent,
That when her fragile body and her brain
By mortal throes of agony were rent,
She felt a curious rapture in her pain.
Then, after anguish, came the supreme bliss—
They brought the little baby for her kiss.
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox
“Wanderer’s Song”
The thread in the hand of a kind mother
Is the coat on the wanderer’s back.
Before he left she stitched it close
In secret fear that he would be slow to return.
Who will say that the inch of grass in his heart
Is gratitude enough for all the sunshine of spring?
—Meng Jiao
If you have a penchant for wanderlust, chances are your mom does too. Here are the trips every mother should take with her daughter or son.
“My Mother”
Who sat and watch’d my infant head
When sleeping on my cradle bed,
And tears of sweet affection shed?
My Mother.
When pain and sickness made me cry,
Who gaz’d upon my heavy eye,
And wept for fear that I should die?
My Mother.
Who drest my doll in clothes so gay,
And taught me pretty how to play,
And minded all I’d got to say?
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.
—Ann Taylor
“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
Show your mother just how much you care by buying one of these gifts for moms who ask for nothing but deserve the world.
“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
“Giving birth to”
Giving birth to
love in the world, she
adorns herself
—Matsuo Bashō
Spend time with Mom while having a blast by browsing these mom memes together.
“To My Mother”
With filial duty I address thee, Mother,
Thou dearest tie which this world’s wealth possesses;
Endearing name! no language owns another
That half the tenderness and love expresses;
The very word itself breathes the affection,
Which heaves the bosom of a luckless child
To thank thee, for that care and that protection,
Which once, where fortune frowns, so sweetly smil’d.
—John Clare
“Mother”
Yes, I am going home once more,
And mother’ll meet me at the door
With smiles that rainbow tears of joy,
And arms that reach out for her boy,
And draw him to her happy breast,
On which awhile his head he’ll rest,
And care no more, if rich or poor,
At home with her, at home once more.
—Madison Julius Cawein
Home is where Mom is. These Mother’s Day poems are perfect to bring home when you visit for Mother’s Day.
Originally Published: April 28, 2022
