A Mother's Touch

By Gabrielle Guz

(Written in January 2017 in honor of my Mama Alla. I was a junior in high school.)

Such an ineffable sensation. May one call it an enchantment, an elixir, a soothing redolence, a blooming orchid, a ravishing sunset, an offing, a murmuration, a dulcimer’s notes, a modest blush on a cheek, a color, a word, a gesture, a friendship, a tear, an embrace – the myriad of emotions and thoughts and sights and sounds that evoke in us not only felicity but purpose, and not only purpose but strength – but I give it one name. It is a Mother’s touch, and hers alone that induces such a passion, such a will, such a fortitudinous character. It is a Mother’s touch – a Mother who is more than she is expected to be, who is more than a Mother, who is more than a true friend, who deserves her name to be capitalized. Because a Mother’s touch is always there, within that heart that calls for it, and it is because a Mother’s heartbeat is so similar to one’s own that it soothes and invites one’s soul to triumph. Because only a Mother’s touch is so understanding, so true, and so loving. A Mother’s touch, incongruous to all else that is ephemeral, is eternal.

To have it withdrawn is to rid one’s soul of felicity, of purpose, of strength, but it is eternal. Such an ineffable sensation is eternal. A Mother’s touch is eternal. And one should realize, one should learn that it is the Mother who loves with all her heart, with all her remaining strength…that it is the Mother who is inexplicably forbearing, consistently forgiving; and that one’s character should be the manifestation of his Mother’s – so witty, so graceful, so selfless, so strong. One should realize, one should learn that there is no point to egocentrism – no matter the age – but there is a value to understanding that what such a Mother gives him, one should return in the same way. One’s heart should not be so indolent, so greedy, and so passive but should – in present time and for eternity – be grateful for the Mother who is as selfless and as strong as she is. Because the Daughter or the Son may never truly know how much pain is concealed behind that smile that she always manages to wear. Because she is a safe-haven, a pertrichor after a shower, a milky-warm ocean behind a freezing shore, but we take all her exquisiteness for granted. But we raze her heart with our thoughtless words and, only afterwards, do we rethink our fatuousness. And yet she continues to be her supreme self, and she continues to fight for us. But while our youthful minds may not understand all that she is and while we are so concerned for ourselves, we are still so attached to her love and to her being and to her soul. And in times of adversity, a Mother’s touch is always there, within that heart that calls for it. It is eternal. It is what instructs our minds and our hearts. It is what raises us from the ground and teaches us what valor is. A Mother’s touch is felicity, is purpose, is strength, is eternity. And remember that it is a Mother’s touch – the one who so deserves her name to be capitalized – that grants life to our soul.