Mother-In-Law's Plight Poem by Frank Adie

My daughter, age and time will surely transport you
To this exulted status of a mother-in-law
I therefore implore you to observe the golden rule;
I cannot marry my son, I can only be his mother,
You can only be his wife, and can never be his mother;
You have your role in his life, and I have mine as well,
Why is it an interference, whenever I try to play my role?

I have always prayed to see him marry,
And by marrying him, you made my dream come true;
You must have also dreamt of having a husband,
And by birthing him, I made your dream come true;
We share a complementary destiny, which we must appreciate,
For the sake of peace and harmony.

When you didn't get pregnant for the first two years,
I prayed and fasted for you and my son,
But you turned around to accuse me of being a witch,
A wicked witch behind your childlessness;
I stayed awake for several nights and cried to God to exonerate me,
Thank God today I am a grandmother,
Another dream you helped me fulfilled.

As a mother, you now know what parturition is,
In pains we bring forth children, and toil to bring them up;
We protect them with the whole of our being;
And continue to do so irrespective of their age;
By mere having a son, you are a potential mother-in-law,
But I will never wish upon you what you made me go through.