Mother Nurture by Iain McGrath

In making your family soup,
you treated thin skins with kid gloves,
tempering acerbic onions,
softening brittle carrots,
before leavening us with sliced leek and
an affection of lentils.

When we came to the boil,
with the patience of several saints,
you turned down the heat to cool,
nurturing your peppered, salty brood
to make us one.

Then, full of grace,
you gathered us in communion
around the family altar,
ladling your offering with seasonings of love,
and we broke bread together.

Iain McGrath is retired, and writing is his hobby. His first full length play ‘Where There’s a Will’ was performed in 2025. He has had short stories published in Scribble and an Ireland’s Own collection, and he won the Hammond House Publishing International Comedy Prize in 2022. Unaccountably, his mini musical ‘Gordon Brown – The Musical’ is still awaiting its premiere.

(Image by Oberholster Venita from Pixabay)