We are not your children

We are not your children, but
We write you nonetheless
To wish you Happy Mother's Day
With sweet, sad tenderness.

We loved your child, who cannot write
The words that he would say,
And so in memory of him
We send you this today.

There is no comfort can assuage
The passing of a child,
But we must do what we can do
And know he would have smiled;

And know that love is like a wave
That sweeps past those who love
To break upon the edge of death,
Time's traces to remove;

And break again, and break again
Across that distant shore
That all who love might taste of life
Yet yearn in peace for more.