Motherhood Isn't Creation by Bunmi Laditan

Motherhood isn't creation

I didn't choose your nose, hair, or

wild disposition

I didn't select what would make you cry

or the colours you'd be drawn to

I didn't put the sparkle in

your eyes, or the bells in your laugh

I may have mixed the ingredients

but I didn't write the recipe.

No, motherhood is not creation

It's the tending of a garden

Knees in the rocky mud

sweat dripping into eyes under the

hot but life-giving sun

a sprinkling of water

the endless picking of weeds

guarding against hungry beasts

joy as the First sprouts appear.

There is no creation in motherhood,

no ownership

only stewardship

and a quiet but profound Faith

that if cared for

the child will bloom.