Mamie, Did you Know? A Mother’s Day Poem for Mamie Till-Mobley

Mamie, did you know that your baby boy would one day be pulled from the water?
Mamie, did you know that your baby boy would not be allowed to have his own sons or daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy would someday make the news?
This child that you’ve delivered, would face so much abuse?

Mamie, did you know that your baby boy, would one day make you famous?
Mamie, did you know that his death, it would inflame us?
Did you know that your baby boy would walk too soon where angels trod?
And  that this, your little baby, would too soon see the face of God?

The blind will see, the deaf will hear and the dead will live again.

The Judge will come and the justice done will wipe away his bloodstain.

Mamie did you know that your baby boy would die alone in God’s creation?
Mamie did you know that your baby boy would become a symbol to the nation?
Did you know that your baby boy is heaven’s perfect Lamb?
And about this sleeping child you’re holding, the world does not give a damn.

Mamie Till-Mobley was the mother of Emmett Till, who died at the hands of racists at age 14. Their story is one that too many Black mothers know too well.

This poem is adapted from the song “Mary, Did you Know?” by Mark Lowry and Buddy Greene