Mortal and Immortal

Chris Ellery

May 26, 2024

“Paradise lies at the feet of your mother.”

a saying adapted from Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)

On Mother’s Day, I visit her grave at the foot

of mother mountain. Letters on her stone

spell “GOD IS LOVE.” Birds are singing,

fish leaping and splashing in Buffalo Creek.

For mammals like me, a mother’s womb 

is the door of mortality. A creature

doomed to perish incubates in the dark

uterus, evolving through watery stages.

With luck, an eager love already feeds 

the unborn thing. With luck, a sweet voice 

sings into the body, where fate

is already counting down the days.

The water breaks. Pain and pushing and blood 

and soon you are here. Mother, standing 

in this green day remembering your song 

seems worth all the dying.

Chris Ellery is a retired teacher and lives in San Angelo. His most recent collection of poems is Canticles of the Body, which superimposes the Christian liturgical calendar with the Vedic anatomy of Kundalini Yoga.