Poems for Mom: 34 Sweet, Funny and Heartfelt Poems for Mother's Day and Every Day

The best poems for mom name one real thing she did for you and thank her for it. Below are 34 original poems for mom, written for this page: short verses for a card, poems from a daughter and from a son, cute Mother's Day poems for kids, thank-you poems, funny ones, poems for a new mom, a stepmom or a mother figure, and a few gentle poems for remembering a mom who has passed.

Further down are five famous poems about mothers, by Kipling, Poe, Langston Hughes and others, and tips for a Mother's Day card. Copy any poem as it is, add her name and one memory, or let our free AI poem generator write one from a few details. For her birthday, see the poems for Mom on our birthday poems page.

On this page:

• Short poems for mom
• Short mom poems from a daughter
• Poems for mom from a son
• Cute Mother's Day poems for kids
• Thank-you poems for Mother's Day that might make her cry
• Funny poems for mom
• Poems for a new mom, a stepmom or a mother figure
• Poems remembering mom
• Famous poems about mothers
• What to write in a Mother's Day card
• FAQs

Short poems for mom

These short poems for mom fit inside a card, a text or a sticky note on the coffee maker.

1. The Bigger Half

You split one cookie into two
And gave the bigger half away.
Now that I'm grown, I know it's true:
You did that nearly every day.

2. Lucky Me

Of all the luck I've had so far,
The best luck is the mom you are.

3. Firsts

The first face that I ever knew,
The first voice saying "I love you,"
The first hand holding mine: all you.

4. Where I Learned It

Each kind thing that I say or do,
I learned it, Mom, from watching you.

5. Back to You

I've lived in rooms in many towns,
On streets I barely knew,
But every time I said "back home,"
I meant, Mom, "back to you."

6. Text from Mom

"Home safe?" at midnight.
Three dots, then a heart, then "Good.
Love you. Lock the door."

That one is a haiku: three lines of five, seven and five syllables.

Want a poem with her name, her garden or her terrible puns in it? The generator writes one from a few details.

Write a poem about your mom, free

Short mom poems from a daughter

Each of these short mom poems from a daughter is built on one small memory: her hands in your hair, her voice coming out of your mouth. Swap in a memory of your own.

7. Hold Still

At seven, in the kitchen chair,
I wriggled while you did my hair.
"Hold still," you'd say. "It's nearly done."
I didn't. Not for anyone.

Now grown, I braid my own each day,
Quick in the mirror, on my way,
And as I pull the strands in three,
I hear "Hold still," and you're with me.

8. Nothing Like You

At fifteen I swore I'd be nothing like you.
At thirty I hum while I'm stirring the stew,
I check all the locks and I fold every sheet...
And honestly, Mom? It's a little bit sweet.

9. Inheritance

You gave me your laugh,
the loud one that turns heads in restaurants.
You gave me your hands,
square and steady, good with bread dough and splinters.
You gave me your habit
of saying sorry to the furniture.

And you gave me the sentence
I say when everything goes wrong:
Okay. What can we do now?
I didn't know it was yours
until I heard it come out of me,
calm in a crisis,
sounding exactly like you.

10. Every Stage

You were my mom when I was small,
My referee when I was ten,
My curfew cop at seventeen,
And now you're my best friend again.

Poems for mom from a son

Plenty of sons say "Love you, bye" and hang up. These poems for mom from a son say the rest.

11. Sunday Call

I call on Sundays after six
And mostly let you talk:
The neighbor's dog, the sink to fix,
The long way round your walk.

I'm not much good at saying things.
I mumble "Yeah" and "Right."
But nothing that the whole week brings
Beats Sunday, six at night.

12. Taller

You marked my height on the kitchen door,
A pencil line, then one line more,
Until at twelve I passed your mark
And bragged about it until dark.
I'm taller now, a head or so,
But I look up to you. You know.

13. In Pen

Mom, I don't say it like I should,
So here it is in pen:
I love you. Thanks for everything.
(Don't make me say it again.)

14. What You Taught Me

You taught me how to fix a tire,
To cook an egg, to build a fire,
To call my grandma once a week,
To listen first before I speak.
You never once said "Be a man."
You said, "Be kind. Do what you can."
I'm trying, Mom, and hope you see
How much of that you put in me.

Cute Mother's Day poems for kids

These cute Mother's Day poems are written in a child's voice, so kids can copy one into a homemade card or learn it by heart for breakfast.

15. Breakfast in Bed

We brought you breakfast in your bed:
Burnt toast with extra jam to spread,
A wobbly tray, a drippy cup,
A daisy that we just dug up.
You ate it all, each crumb and drop,
And said, "Delightful!" (Now we'll mop.)

16. Glitter and Glue

I made you a card out of glitter and glue
(There's glitter on me and the cat and my shoe).
I wrote "I love Mom" with a heart and a star,
To show you how totally awesome you are.

17. Day Off

Today there's no "Mom, where's my shoe?"
No lunches packed, no chores to do,
Just coffee, hot, and feet up high.
Happy Mother's Day! (We'll try.)

18. MOTHER: A Mother's Day Acrostic

Mending every scraped-up knee,
Open arms for kids like me,
Telling stories soft and low,
Humming songs from long ago,
Every hug a hug that stays,
Ready for my rainy days.

In a Mother's Day acrostic poem, the first letters of the lines spell a word. Kids can try MOM, MAMA or her first name; our acrostic poem guide has more examples.

Thank-you poems for Mother's Day that might make her cry

These are the Mother's Day poems that make you cry, in the good way. Each one thanks her for something she thinks nobody noticed.

19. Somebody Saw

Nobody saw the nights you stayed
Awake beside my bed,
The fevers, and the deals you made
With heaven in your head.

Nobody saw you count the cost,
Then smile and say, "We're fine,"
Or wear last winter's coat again
So I'd be warm in mine.

I see it now that I am grown,
And, Mom, I want to say:
Somebody saw. Somebody knows.
And thank you, every day.

20. For the Fridge

You kept my drawings on the fridge:
The purple horse, the crooked bridge,
The sun with seven yellow rays,
For years and years, not weeks or days.
I asked you why. You didn't blink:
"Because you made them. What do you think?"
So here's one more for your fridge door:
A thank-you poem. I love you more.

21. Dish Duty

Your hands in the sink,
steam rising off the dishes,
humming the same song
you hummed when I was little.
I dry. We don't need to talk.

That is a tanka, a Japanese form of five lines counted 5, 7, 5, 7 and 7 syllables.

22. Enough (for a Single Mom)

You were the one at every game,
The one who signed the forms,
The one who fixed the leaking roof
And sat with me through storms.

You did the work that two would share
And did it with a song.
So thank you, Mom. You were enough.
You were enough all along.

Funny poems for mom

Tease her about something she laughs at too, like the bag that holds everything, and end on something kind. For more family laughs, see our funny poems.

23. Eyes in the Back

My mom has an eye, so she said,
In the back of her curly-haired head.
When I reached for a cookie,
She said, "Nice try, rookie,"
And sent me directly to bed.

That's a limerick: five bouncy lines where lines one, two and five rhyme, and lines three and four rhyme with each other.

24. Love, Mom

You sign each text with "Love, Mom," still,
In case I think it might be Phil.
You thumbs-up news that's sad or bad,
And send a crying face when glad,
Then call me up to ask, "Did you
Get my text?" Mom, I love you too.

25. Mom Translations

"We'll see" means no.
"Ask your dad" means no, but now it's his fault.
"I'm not mad" means start cleaning.
"Who wants to help me?" means you.
"Five more minutes" means twenty, if you're quiet.

And "Drive safe" means
I won't sleep until I hear your key in the door,
and I love you more than I have ever said out loud.

26. Mom's Bag

What's in your bag? Let's take a look:
A pen, some gum, a library book,
Three bandages, a spare hair tie,
A snack in case a kid should cry,
Receipts from twenty-seventeen,
A stapler (why?), a tangerine.
I sneezed once. Out a tissue flew.
Mom's bag knows things before you do.

Poems for a new mom, a stepmom or a mother figure

Mother's Day is also for the mom with a newborn, the stepmom who stayed, and the grandma, aunt or foster mom who raised you. Even Edgar Allan Poe's famous mother poem, printed below, was written for a mother figure.

27. First Mother's Day

Your coffee's cold. Your shirt's a mess.
You've slept four hours, more or less.
But someone small has learned your face
And thinks it is the safest place.
Happy first Mother's Day to you:
You're doing better than you knew.

28. To My Daughter, the New Mom

I held you once, the way you do,
And wondered if I'd know
The way to help you sleep, to feed,
To keep, and let you go.

You'll learn the way that I learned too:
A little every night.
And Mom (since that's your name now, love),
You're going to be all right.

29. You Didn't Have To

You didn't have to learn my name,
Or drive me to each Friday game,
Or keep my photo in your phone,
Or love me like I was your own.
You didn't have to wait for me
Through every slammed door. Now I see
That "didn't have to" is the start
Of how you won my stubborn heart.

30. Bonus Mom

You came into my life halfway
And stayed for all the rest.
A bonus mom is still a mom,
And mine's the very best.

31. For the One Who Mothered Me

You never had to be my mom,
And never asked the name.
You gave me supper, rides and calm,
And loved me just the same.

Grandma, auntie, foster mom,
Or friend who took me in:
On Mother's Day, these lines are yours,
For all the mom you've been.

Poems remembering mom

These short poems suit a sympathy card, a Mother's Day spent missing her, or a reading at a funeral or memorial for Mom, and they fit in a printed program. For a longer tribute in your own words, our guide to elegy poems shows how to write one.

32. Lilacs in May

I hear you when I laugh too loud.
I see you in my face.
I still make bread the way you did,
With flour all over the place.

And when the lilacs bloom in May,
I know just what to do:
I cut an armful, fill a jar,
And say, "These are for you."

33. In All We Do

You taught us how to love, and so
Your love goes on in all we do:
In every kindness that we show,
A little bit of it is you.

34. Seeds

This Mother's Day, I'll plant the seeds
You saved in envelopes,
Each labeled in your slanting hand,
And one that just says "Hopes."

I'll plant that one where sunlight falls
And water it each day,
Because you always grew the things
You hoped for, anyway.

Famous poems about mothers

These famous poems about mothers are in the public domain in the US, and each text was checked word for word against an early printing or a trusted library. For famous poems on other subjects, see our famous poems collection.

My Mother, by Ann Taylor (excerpt)

Who fed me from her gentle breast,
And hush'd me in her arms to rest,
And on my cheek sweet kisses prest?
My Mother.

Who ran to help me when I fell,
And would some pretty story tell,
Or kiss the place to make it well?
My Mother.

And can I ever cease to be
Affectionate and kind to thee,
Who wast so very kind to me,
My Mother.

And when I see thee hang thy head,
'Twill be my turn to watch thy bed,
And tears of sweet affection shed,
My Mother.

Ann Taylor (1782 to 1866) wrote this children's poem for Original Poems for Infant Minds, a collection by Ann, her sister Jane and other writers. By 1807 it was popular enough to be printed as a little book of its own. Each verse asks who cared for the child and answers "My Mother", until the child promises to care for her in old age. Read all twelve verses on Wikisource.

Sonnet — To My Mother, by Edgar Allan Poe (1849)

Because I feel that, in the heavens above,
The angels, whispering to one another,
Can find, among their burning terms of love,
None so devotional as that of 'mother' —
Therefore by that sweet name I long have called you —
You, who are more than mother unto me,
And fill my heart of hearts, where Death installed you,
In setting my Virginia's spirit free.
My mother — my own mother — who died early —
Was but the mother of myself; but you
Are mother to the one I loved so dearly,
And thus are dearer than the mother I knew;
By that infinity with which my wife
Was dearer to my soul than its soul-life.

Poe wrote this sonnet to Maria Clemm, his aunt and mother-in-law. His own mother "died early", and his late wife, Virginia, was Maria's daughter, so Maria is dearer to him than the mother he knew. It follows the Shakespearean rhyme scheme, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG (see more sonnet examples). This is the first printing, from The Flag of Our Union of July 7, 1849, as transcribed by the Edgar Allan Poe Society; later printings change a few words.

Sonnets are full of love, by Christina Rossetti (1881)

Sonnets are full of love, and this my tome
Has many sonnets: so here now shall be
One sonnet more, a love sonnet, from me
To her whose heart is my heart's quiet home,
To my first Love, my Mother, on whose knee
I learnt love-lore that is not troublesome;
Whose service is my special dignity,
And she my loadstar while I go and come.
And so because you love me, and because
I love you, Mother, I have woven a wreath
Of rhymes wherewith to crown your honoured name:
In you not fourscore years can dim the flame
Of love, whose blessed glow transcends the laws
Of time and change and mortal life and death.

Rossetti opened her book A Pageant and Other Poems (1881) with this sonnet to her mother, her "first Love" and "loadstar" (guiding star). Not even "fourscore years", eighty, can dim their love, and the closing lines about a love beyond "mortal life and death" suit a memorial too. Text from Poets.org.

Mother o' Mine, by Rudyard Kipling (1891)

If I were hanged on the highest hill,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
I know whose love would follow me still,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

If I were drowned in the deepest sea,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
I know whose tears would come down to me,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

If I were damned of body and soul,
I know whose prayers would make me whole,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

Kipling printed this as the dedication of his novel The Light That Failed in its 1891 book edition. Each verse imagines the worst that could happen to him, and each time his mother's love still reaches him. Text from the 1891 Macmillan edition on Wikisource.

Mother to Son, by Langston Hughes (1922)

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare;
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark,
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back;
Don't you sit down on the steps,
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard;
Don't you fall now—
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

A mother tells her son that her life has been a broken staircase, not a "crystal stair", but she keeps climbing, and so must he. The text follows its first printing, in the December 1922 issue of The Crisis (also on Poets.org).

One modern favorite is still in copyright, so we don't print it: Billy Collins's "The Lanyard", from The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems (2005). Collins remembers the lanyard he made for his mother at camp and, with plenty of humor, weighs that small gift against everything she gave him. Read it at the Poetry Foundation.

What to write in a Mother's Day card

A poem does most of the work in a card. These tips make it hers. For a fuller guide to writing your own, see how to write a poem.

1. Match the poem to her. A mom who laughs at herself will love "Mom's Bag"; a quieter mom may prefer "Somebody Saw".
2. Add one real detail. Under the poem, write a line only you could write: "P.S. I still can't fold a fitted sheet like you."
3. Use her name. If she is Mama or Ma, change "Mom" in the poem so it sounds like you.
4. Keep it short. A two- to four-line poem, one sentence of thanks and your name is plenty. Save the long poems for reading aloud.
5. Reading it aloud? Practice twice, slow down at each line end and look up at her for the last line.
6. Send one early. A two-line poem by text on Mother's Day morning starts the day well. Our good morning poems show how short that can be.

A Mother's Day acrostic card for kids: fold a sheet of paper, write MOM, MAMA or her name down the left side in big letters, and give each letter one line about something she does, says or loves. Stuck on a letter? The free generator can suggest lines.

Make a MOM or MOTHER acrostic, free

FAQs

What is a good short poem for Mom?

One that is two to four lines long and names something real she did for you. "The Bigger Half" and "Lucky Me" near the top of this page are short enough for any card, and you can add her name to either one.

When is Mother's Day in 2027?

In the US, Mother's Day is the second Sunday in May, so in 2027 it falls on Sunday, May 9. Congress set that date by law in 1914.

What poem can I read at my mom's funeral?

Choose something short you can read slowly. "In All We Do" and "Lilacs in May" fit a printed program, and Rossetti's sonnet is a good classic choice. Add one sentence of your own about her before you begin.

Can I use these poems in a card?

Yes. The 34 numbered poems on this page were written for this site, so you are welcome to copy them into a card, a text or a Mother's Day speech.