mother love, n.Definitions

Mother-love (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the long silence where everything begins and ends — known as intimately as Nature and as strange, as tender and as cruel as fate.

Mother-love (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠soft as pure gold, malleable in every sense and yet whole; the husband's joy in it, like the food of Valhalla, is not consumed though he consumes it — at home he has bread and circuses.

Mother-love (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠as beautiful carrying a demanding child down a crowded street, unembarrassed, as sacrificing its life — the difference would only come if the mother reflected upon herself.

Mother-love (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠essentially beautiful in everyday use, not in catastrophes: there, without any external propulsion, it is set in motion by itself, nourished by itself.

Mother-love (n.) waits ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠until the child is asleep to rejoice over it, hardly daring to let the child see how unspeakably it is loved.