Daystar In response to the daily struggle of a mother in the pursuit to find time of her own, Rita Dove, twentieth century poetry, wrote the poem “Daystar.” As a mother you not only struggle to find quiet time, but you also struggle to find personal redemption for all the daily tasks we complete for our families. In the tittle alone “Daystar” we find ourselves invisible to those we take care of regularly. Just like stars during the day, invisible to us due to the sun, our actions are invisible to others because many feel that it is not only our job but our obligation to take care of others. Dove uses descriptive words to allow us to sympathize with the character, also taking us visually through her words of a typical afternoon of a busy mother. Dove starts the poem with the number one struggle for all mothers, quiet time. “She wanted a little room for thinking” (1) searching for a quiet place to melt into your surroundings is all anyone needs to recharge, get your head straight. “But saw the diapers steaming on the line” (2) while attempting to find personal serenity, the first sight was one of her daily chores looking back at her. “A doll slumped behind the door” (3) this is yet another reminder of something she has to pick up and put away. She decides to find a place where there is no reminder of what her days consist of. “So she lugged a chair behind the garage” (4) “to sit out the children’s naps.” (5) Her lugging the chair is an example of the exhaustion she must feel and this is just the middle of her day. She continues to talk about some of the peaceful and interesting things she watches while she is seeking her quiet time. “Sometimes there were things to watch” (6) “the pinched armor of a vanished cricket” (7) “a floating maple leaf. Other days” (8) “she stared until she was assured” (9) when she closed her eyes” (10) “she’d see only her own vivid blood” (11), as a mother viewing nature at its finest isn’t always enough, her closing her eyes and melting into herself really explains to us how much this time to herself meant to her. Being able to visualize and feel her own blood pumping lets readers know that she has found that Zen like serenity she longs for. “She had an hour, at best, before Liza appeared” (12) “pouting from the top of the stairs” (13) as a mother and the reader of this poem I am extremely sympathetic to these lines. Once placing children down for naps, the clock starts ticking. The time goes by so quickly and for most parents nap time is the only time you have that is yours. Just the anticipation of the short time to relax is enough to not allow you to enjoy the moment. “And just what was my mother doing” (14) “Out back with the field mice?” (15) and “Why, building a palace” (16) these are typical questions a mother is used to, never being able to do anything without being questioned as to why. Our children think they need an explanation for everything. Even though we are questioned often it does not make it any less difficult to swallow each time the questions are thrown at you. “Later that night when Thomas rolled over and” (17) “lurched into her, she would open her eyes” (18) with using the word lurched, I visualize her being annoyed by the fact he was invading her space. “And to think of the place that was hers” (20) again referring to the fact that even in bed, a time she should be able to enjoy and relax she is being bothered. “For an hour-where” (21) “she was nothing” (22) “pure nothing, in the middle of the day” refers to the fact that she was able to be alone, not worrying about anything in that one moment. She was just herself, not a caregiver, not a mother, not a wife or any other title the world has placed on her. Alone with her thoughts being able to enjoy and remember the time when she had the time to herself, before she achieved her current status. Mothers everywhere can empathize and sympathize with the character in the poem. Motherhood is a time many women long for but do not realize the true impact it has on our everyday lives. Dove does an incredible job describing and characterizing a mother during a typical afternoon and putting into words exactly how we long for the time, even if it is brief, to just be alone and enjoy the peace of that moment and how we anticipate the next one.