I don’t mean to quote poetry at you, but I’m about to. Because I’ve found a poem that’s shifted my perspective as a mum and given me more patience with my kids.
It’s a poem so simple in its language but profound in its messaging – that the meaning of life isn’t one thing, it’s all the small things.
From the perfect cup of steaming tea, to a leg cuddle from your toddler, and a meandering pre-sleep chat in bed with your eldest.
Let me share the piece with you before I continue.
The Orange by Wendy Cope
At lunchtime I bought a huge orange—
The size of it made us all laugh.
I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave—
They got quarters and I had a half.
And that orange, it made me so happy,
As ordinary things often do.
Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park.
This is peace and contentment. It’s new.
The rest of the day was quite easy.
I did all the jobs on my list
And enjoyed them and had some time over.
I love you. I’m glad I exist.
Each time I read these twelve lines of prose it feels like an invitation to unburden myself from the need to be ‘doing’ to feel worthy. Like a lot of women, I know I am prone to scathing self dialogue, my inner critic knows no bounds but Cope’s words have given me a simplified and fresh lens to view motherhood and life, contentment in the ordinary.
Published in 1992, the British writer’s poem has found a wider audience online. In a web search I found pages of admirers but the comments of a cancer doctor in Pakistan struck me most. Dr Damane Zehra says the poem helped her identify her career would never nourish her as much as life’s simplest moments do, “I was always under pressure to keep working, and I realised that the majority of doctors sacrifice their playfulness and joy… just to validate their existence.”
