Photo Credit @Liz Young
A Mother’s Reward
by T. Delaplain
Seven lay resting: too early, too late, born still, the measles, poisoned blood. Those that God left, the Great War took away. Wandering through the stones and crosses stepping over a fresh mound of turned soil through a haze of lilies, she offered praise and forgiveness. Arms finally full, now she could care for her babies.
An offering for Friday Fictioneers. We will give you 100 words to say your peace.
Tracey Delaplain, MD 
This is beautiful. I love how you tell us who the seven were. Perfect and perfectly sad.
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Thank you, maybe there is a heaven.
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What a life for a mother to have to bury all her children.. love the way you marked the time by references to cause of death we rarely see these days.
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Dear Tracey,
100 words to say your peace. Love it. Lovely story that covers a lifetime of heartbreak in few words. Now she’s at peace. I hope heaven is like that. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Actually 68 words with the title. Which proves that you can tell a full story in less than 100 words. I’m saving those extra words for future transgressions.
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And the title doesn’t count as part of the word count. 😉
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I read this earlier today and had to step back and soak it in to find words… and still those words fail. This is that good. 🙂 ❤
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Thank you, what a lovely comment.
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Powerful and piognant, well writen
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Thanks Michael
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Wow! Riveting. And painful. And ultimately beautiful.
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Your comment describes a life well lived. Thank you.
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I have finally caught my breath enough to comment. That was beautifully done. Such a sad tale of a time when life was so easily taken away…
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And birth losses were quit common. Did you know that perinatal deaths are actually rising in some areas of the U.S.? Boggles my mind.
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Ah man… that is mind-boggling. Makes no sense!
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Tremendously moving, Tracey. Well done.
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Thank you Sandra, a boat load of misery followed by peace, I hope.
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The first thing that entered my warped my upon reading your little tale was the song below.
In the afterlife / You could be headed for the serious strife / Now you make the scene all day / But tomorrow there’ll be Hell to pay – Squirrel Nut Zippers
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Thanks for stopping by Squirrel Nut. Your comments are always appreciated.
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I agree—a very poignant account of life and death back when. The Spanish flu got a lot the war left, too.
Did I get it right that the freshly dug grave is hers?
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Thank you Christine. Yes it is her grave.
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Love the line “Whom God left, war took”!
Such a comment on mankind’s ways!💐
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So much time and sadness explored so movingly in this brief piece. I hope for a happy reunion.
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Thanks Rommy. She seems to have found her heaven.
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So much in a few words! Loved it.
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Thank you Yuhu.
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Lovely language – somewhere between a Victorian hymn and a chilling nursery rhyme. I could smell those funeral lilies.
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The lilies, ugh. I hate lilies for this very reason but I think it evoked the funereal response. Thank you.
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Poignant. Heart-aching. Real. That’s the way life was.
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Yes, my grandmother buried 3 of 12 children at early ages. It must have taken a strong character to survive motherhood back in the day.m
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i guess it should be understandable that families wanted more children back then. the probability of surviving to adulthood was low.
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There was a definite need to have more children to run the farms and etc. but there also was no birth control options. Yet another reason to march for science and for global women’s health.
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‘Arms finally full’ takes the sting out of it, but what losses she has suffered.
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My, how I feel for her! I do not know how mothers did it back then, losing so many children as if it were a way of life.
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Even though it was common to lose a child, I can’t believe it was any easier on a mother then.
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Right? Neither can I. Nothing said that more than Sally Fields portrayal of Mary Lincoln in the movie “Lincoln”.
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