in Genre - Hope Genre-Determination PH 2021 (Poems) Poems - English Poems by Dr Daiseku Ikeda

Mother

By Dr. Daisaku Ikeda
Read by Dr. Akash Ouchi

Mother!

Ah, Mother!

What a richly mysterious

power you possess!

Mother,

Ah, Mother!

Your very existence

potently generates

understanding and harmony.

You are an unmatched master

of conversation.

***

Mother!

Mother!

You are simple

and persistent.

You are observant

and uncompromising.

You are honest

and obstinate.

But the image of your face

is the homeland of the heart

for all people everywhere.

***

Your crystal laugh

brings an inexplicable

sense of ease and peace.

Times without number,

the seemingly contradictory fruit

of your acute perceptions

has brought theory

– lost in the maze

of abstract dispute

back to the true and focused path.

***

No philosopher’s reasoning

can surpass you.

The teachings of the saints

are to you but variations

on the theme.

There may be many

who exceed you in cleverness

but only in the realm

of superficial appearance

and apparition.

****

The proof of this is that

those who find their way blocked

never fail to heed the tones

of your serene and earnest voice.

There they discern the basis

on which to construct once again

their talents and skills.

****

Mother was always

and at all times

our faithful attendant.

She was a storyteller from the future,

gifted singer, master performer,

potent ally.

*****

The compassionate

love of mothers

knows nothing

of fettering language,

of the high ice walls

of nationality,

of the conflicts and

struggles of ideology.

The love of mothers,

like the narrow path

between lush green fields,

is the one emotion

connecting all people everywhere.

****

Mother!

Dear Mother!

It was heartrending

to watch you persevere

through the blizzards of fate,

pitiable to see your repeated

grieved beseeching.

****

I am compelled to pray

for your lasting health,

that you may live to see the day

when your hopes

and prayers

take wing and rise

soaring into the skies.

****

Mother!

Mothers!

Never permit the power

of your gentle love

to be isolated,

cut off from others.

Around a blind, unthinking love

the shadows of unhappiness

will gather.

Only the love

of compassionate mothers

linked in solidarity,

with purpose and reason

will set the crucial,

transforming point of light

in an otherwise miserable

and barbaric future.

****

This patient labor

of igniting lights

is the only real means

to defend the sanctity of life

against the assaults of the world.

****

The history of women

has been darkened

by torment,

extinguished smiles,

and pained, despairing tears.

Th time has now come

to relegate that history

to an ancient fossil past.

****

From now, from today,

with the wisdom and philosophy

that you yourself have gained

through your self-transformation,

bring the sought-for sun

to your home and family,

your clear and cheerful voice in song

to the constricted gloom of society

the easy performance

and unmatched brilliance

of your songs of peace

to a world that yearns

for spring!

****

When this sustained

and energetic cadence

reaches and refreshes

the distant shores

with vibrant waves of light,

you, Mother, will preside forever

over an era

of humanity

revived and restored!