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A Mother's Anguish

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written on 16th March 2025.
Image Credit -free pic.com

For Write Six Beautiful Lines Poetry Contest-Sponsored By Constance La France.

Taking a child from an unmarried mother is shocking, many are shamed and shunned by society with many taking their own lives, sadly in some parts of the world this vile practise continues. Quote by poet. Paul and Suzy fell in love whilst they were both still at school, They were inseparable and often seen holding hands together, Suzy found out she was with child; her parents were outraged. When her son was born her parents gave him up for adoption, the next morning, she was found dead with a note by her side and in her hand was a small cuddly toy that Paul had given her.

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Tania Kitchin

Date: 3/21/2025 11:10:00 AM

Tom, back to congratulate you on your win.

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/21/2025 12:48:00 PM

Thank you very much for your congrats and return visit Tania have a great weekend. Tom

Beata Agustin

Date: 3/21/2025 2:34:00 AM

Congrats! Thanks for sharing this anguish-filled muse of yours. God bless you.

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/21/2025 3:04:00 AM

Thank you very much Beata, it was horrific how those poor girls were treated all those years ago. Tom

Terry Miller

Date: 3/20/2025 9:11:00 AM

A tragic tale, though well penned, congratulations

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/20/2025 9:38:00 AM

Thank you very much Terry, I can’t imagine how those young girls felt having to part with their child. Tom

Duke Beaufort

Date: 3/20/2025 7:52:00 AM

Tom, it would certainly be a better world if those involved were included and had some say in the decisions made. This breaks my heart. We’re creatures with feelings. Sounds like something a parent like DT or Elon would do since they feel entitled to make all the decisions. It’s human failing on small and gigantic scales.

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/20/2025 9:43:00 AM

Thank you Duke, I can understand if the girls did not want the child because they were raped for eg ,but that wasn’t always the case. It’s frightening what them pair are doing, I pity the administration that comes in after them,it will take years to clean up the mess. Tom

thriveni c mysore

Date: 3/20/2025 6:46:00 AM

sad it is, there are so many layers to this write of yours. no answers. questions trail. dear poet, thank you for this powerful voice.

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/20/2025 6:49:00 AM

Thank you very much Thriveni, sadly in the not too distant past it was quite commonplace in the uk and Ireland, thankfully it's in the past now. Tom

Valsa George

Date: 3/20/2025 3:29:00 AM

Back to your evocative poem with Congratulations on your first place win, dear Tom.

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/20/2025 3:39:00 AM

Thank you very much for your return visit and congrats Valsa, I hope your week is going well. Tom

Paula Goldsmith

Date: 3/19/2025 3:28:00 PM

Congratulations on your win. WOW!!!What a sad write/story yet so true for many. Great quote and Great Picture... I enjoyed reading your write. Have a fun/blessed day as you write away..................

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/19/2025 10:24:00 PM

Thank you very much Paula thankfully you dont here about this now, it belongs in the dark ages. Tom

Anne-Lise Andresen

Date: 3/19/2025 1:52:00 PM

- Back with a congrats, Tom ... enjoy :) - hugs

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/19/2025 3:26:00 PM

Thank you very much Anne Lise, Tom

Jennifer Proxenos

Date: 3/19/2025 12:02:00 AM

How sad parents like that should serve a small prison sentence, despicable! POOR GIRL. Love to you and all your family my friend. hugs and blessings Jennifer

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/19/2025 12:30:00 AM

Thank you very much Jennifer, thankfully that vile practice no longer continues in the civilised world. Hope your week is going well. Tom

Ink Empress

Date: 3/18/2025 1:26:00 AM

Ah you are as always such a brilliant and soulful storyteller, this made me tear up really! The ending especially. A mother shouldnt have to endure that: i can imagine the pain… your quote too is powerful and this is such a deeply moving write! So haunting! You always write on such subjects that would leave us readers feeling so much! I definitely felt this. Best wishes for the contest. Sending you light always

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/18/2025 2:41:00 AM

Thank you very much IE, it was horrific how unmarried girls were treated back then, rejected by their families and shunned by society, of course many couldn't handle the guilt and took their own lives. How we've moved on from those times. Tom

Jerry Brotherton

Date: 3/17/2025 5:37:00 PM

A tragic tale Tom

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/17/2025 10:23:00 PM

Thank you very much Jerry, it certainly is. Tom

Andrea Dietrich

Date: 3/17/2025 2:52:00 PM

So tragic. So senseless. Well expressed.

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/17/2025 10:22:00 PM

Thank you very much Andrea, thankfully you no longer hear of this horrific practise in the west. Tom

CayCay Jennings

Date: 3/17/2025 1:32:00 PM

This kind of senseless, horrifying cruelty was prevalent, tolerated and even expected in past centuries. I can't imagine such a waste of girls life and potential in this day and age. Really enjoyed the clarity in your lines, I didn't have to work for IT. An effective poem about IGNORANCE. Poetry hugs ... CayCay

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/17/2025 1:48:00 PM

Thank you very much CayCay, girls were always blamed for bringing shame on their families, no mention of the man who went off to have a happy life, the state and church often sold the children to childless couples, it's horrific what went on. Even today you hear of it in poorer countries. Thankfully in the civilised world it no longer happens. Tom

Daniel Henry Rodgers

Date: 3/17/2025 7:29:00 AM

Dear Tom, It’s an injustice that still echoes through so many lives, and your recounting of it is haunting, but important, picture. The cruelty that some face because of choices and circumstances beyond their control. It’s a sad reality that so many endure. Yet in the midst of that darkness, your memory of Suzy, and the small gift of love you shared with her, shine through as a testament to what was beautiful amidst so much pain. Spring Blessings, My Friend Daniel.

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/17/2025 1:51:00 PM

I didn't know it went on in the US, I thought it was only rife in Ireland and England, How those poor girls suffered having their child taken from them like that. It was horrific.

Daniel Henry Rodgers
Date: 3/17/2025 7:44:00 AM

Hello Tom, I just finished reading about that took place in the 1960s with unwed mothers who were sent to another state where they were put into a home for pregnant moms. Delivered the babies and given to adoptive parents and then the mother was sent back home. Some of the women (girls) were 13 and 14 years old. So sad!! Spring Blessings, My Friend, Daniel

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/17/2025 7:39:00 AM

Thank you very much Daniel, I got the inspiration from reading about those poor girls who were forced to give up their newborns because they weren't married and families were worried about the shame it would bring, thankfully you dont hear much about it now. Of course some cultures live in the dark ages and it still happens to unmarried mothers. Tom

Joseph May

Date: 3/17/2025 7:17:00 AM

Very sad verse, and as it still happens today more of these sad stories will be seen

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/17/2025 7:22:00 AM

Thank you very much Joseph, sadly that is the case, more so in poorer countries that have very strange laws that are from the dark ages.. Tom

Victor Buhagiar

Date: 3/17/2025 2:38:00 AM

This is so sad. Parents should be ashamed of themselves. Pity such events happen. Best for a win.

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/17/2025 2:41:00 AM

Thank you very much Victor, thankfully times have changed and it's not the big shame it once was. Tom

Karen Jones

Date: 3/17/2025 12:38:00 AM

So desperately sad and tragic. Why don’t they embrace their grandchild? This is an important poem that tugs at the heart! Well done Tom and good luck in the contest!

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/17/2025 1:07:00 AM

Thank you very much Karen, I get angry when they put all the blame on the woman forgetting that it was a man that put her in that condition in the first place , sadly some cultures still live in medieval times. Tom

Sara Kendrick

Date: 3/16/2025 4:08:00 PM

Quite sad. I had a cousin who was a high school graduate then she went to flight school to be a stewardess on airplanes and ended up with child. She brought the child home and then gave it up and sorely distressed from the situation. She said she was going to get married and have a whole house full of children. That son died from committing suicide. I often wondered what the cause of his depression was. Thanks for sharing this one. Reads like a good contender to me for the contest. Sara K

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/16/2025 10:08:00 PM

Thank you very much Sara, she must have regretted it afterwards, maybe she thought he'd have a better life, I'm sorry to hear he took his own life, he must have been in a dark place. Tom

David Kavanagh

Date: 3/16/2025 2:18:00 PM

Unfortunately this scene played out many times in the past Tom, especially here in Ireland, the mother was seen as the dirty one and usually ended up in an institution or with wrists cut, a very sad, dark, yet beautifully written piece, cheers David

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/16/2025 2:36:00 PM

Thank you very much David, I read about those institutions, horrific what went on there. It was bad over here too, many sent to Australia to try and make the empire bigger. Tom

Tania Kitchin

Date: 3/16/2025 1:58:00 PM

Tom, a powerful poem, so tragic. Best of luck in the contest.

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/16/2025 2:38:00 PM

Thank you very much Tania, all this went on in the not so distant past and it still goes on in those third world countries even now, going on about family honour and all that crap, it's evil. Tom

Anne-Lise Andresen

Date: 3/16/2025 10:01:00 AM

- A tragic topic, Tom ... that can happen even today - Best wishes in the contest :) - hugs

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/16/2025 10:06:00 AM

Thank you very much Anne-Lise, sadly some cultures think it's okay to banish women, never mind the cretin who was responsible for getting her pregnant, that sort of thing belongs in the dark ages. Hope your day is going well. Tom

Jan Allison

Date: 3/16/2025 6:59:00 AM

Your poem brought a lump to my throat Tom, I watch long lost families - it was always the poor mother cast out from the family with the shame of having an illegitimate child and often forced to give the baby up for adoption in the hope it received a better life. hugs jan xx

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/16/2025 7:47:00 AM

Thank you very much Jan, thankfully it's not so common now in the uk, but sadly in other cultures around the world it still goes on and they blame the woman, what about the cretin that caused it. Tom

Valsa George

Date: 3/16/2025 6:04:00 AM

So sad and heart wrenching ! Such shocking incidents happen. For a mother, it's so shocking to be alienated from her baby. Powerfully written dear Tom. All the Best.

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/16/2025 7:43:00 AM

Thank you very much Valsa, it was common place in the 60s here in the uk many tend to look the other way and only point at the woman who wouldn't have found herself with child because of a man. Tom

Lin Lane

Date: 3/16/2025 4:52:00 AM

Goosebumps on this sorrowful write, Tom. There's nothing more heartbreaking than the loss of a child under any circumstances.

Lin Lane
Date: 3/16/2025 5:07:00 AM

Agreed. Many things are better in today’s world but so many more are worse.

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/16/2025 4:59:00 AM

Thank you Lin, I was reading about it, absolutely shocking what happened to those girls, many were sent to workhouses and forced to part with their child when it was born,they were ridiculed and shamed by society,of course the fathers could do no wrong in the eyes of the law, they should have been castrated. Tom

Deb M

Date: 3/16/2025 4:50:00 AM

Such heartbreaking sadness Tom! Debx

Tom Cunningham
Date: 3/16/2025 4:55:00 AM

Thanks Deb, it’s an evil thing to do, what those poor young mothers must have went through. Tom