Oriyomi Eriwayo’s eulogy to motherhood in ‘Mother’s Love’
By Anote Ajeluorou
ALL through the ages, the ‘mother-love’ motif is a potent one. Men and women alike fall under its spell and are known to do a lot of things – good or bad – just to prove or show that that filial bond remains unbroken no matter the age of the ‘child’ showing the love toward his or her mother. Not even death separates that special love, as fond memories linger on forever. This is not far-fetch; a child cocoons in a mother’s womb for nine months, suckles her breasts for many months or even years, learns to crawl, talk and walk under the spell of her voice that is gentle and commanding all at once. It’s the ultimate bond that may at times be akin to bondage, only that the child who is becoming a man or woman may never know it. They just love their mother regardless.
It’s this sort of undying love that Esther Oriyomi Eriwayo eulogises in her single poem ‘Mother’s Love’, which she recently performed at Words out Loud ‘Poetry & Spoken Word Open-Mic’ at Franco Manca, Chichester, UK. Eriwayo performed her poem to a mostly white audience and received enthusiastic applause for her piece. Indeed, any audience would identify with the theme of Eriwayo’s poem that elevates mothers to another pedestal of adoration. Mothers are dear to our existence, as they carry the burden of pregnancy and nurturing a child from infancy to adulthood. The bond mothers and children share is inestimable, and this make children naturally more attached to their mothers although there are some exceptions.
Eriwayo’s poem is a joyous piece that celebrates mothers and their roles in a person’s life, how they provide the guiding light to the feet of their children unto adulthood. With four stanzas of four rhyming couplet lines each, Eriwayo threshes out what she considers the four areas mothers are valuable entities in her life and, by extension, everyone’s life borne of a woman. These four areas, according to Eriwayo, represent some of the challenges man goes through life where he needs reassurances that a mother’s love naturally provides.
First is in moments of ‘doubt’ when a man is at cross-roads and needs assurances, and Eriwayo believes a mother’s love can provide ‘the courage to see us through’. Indeed, a man’s life is filled with opposing moments of brightness and bleakness, and when it’s the latter, Eriwayo recommends ‘our mother’s strength’ to make the journey easy. Eriwayo also believes a mother’s spirit is powerful enough to help guide man or woman through life’s turbulent moments, noting that ‘And though her hand, we can no longer hold, / Her love’s embrace, will never grow old.’
Esther Oriyomi Eriwayo performing ‘Mother’s Love’ in Chichester, UK
Eriwayo also asserts that a mother’s love has ‘sweet power’, an unfathomable strength that ‘will always flow, / Through our lives, and the lives of others’, signifying that the power of a mother’s love transcends even those of her own children to many others, like a beacon that shines through our lives unto others to illuminate their paths also. This love also encapsulates hope and faith, two very powerful elements that provide direction for man and woman, ‘A guiding force, to help us win’ life’s many battles. Hope and faith are at the heart of a man’s journey in life. Without them, man may be lost. For the poet-persona, these two elements that flow from a mother’s love keep a man’s feet solidly grounded and nudges him to desired destination.
Eriwayo’s ‘Mother’s Love’ is a moving piece that touches the heart. Her performance of it at Word Out Loud also lent credence to it as a well-wrought poetic piece that celebrates motherhood. A multitalented artist, Eriwayo is a poet, playwright, and actor, having published a debut poetry collection Flower Blooms in the United Kingdom. Eriwayo loves to explore new worlds and ideas.
