There is one universal word which all babies instinctively sound in every language and that is 'mama'. It produces a bond the like of which there is no other.

Women are hard-wired by Nature to nurture and raise. Along the human chain of generations we would wish that every infant has depended on this woman, found shelter within her arms, food within her breast and the confidence to experience life and all its wonders from her love.

Whether we understand it or recognise it, it is women who have shaped the course and journey of humanity.

It is true, that mothering, the maternal instinct, comes in all shapes and shades and sizes. Some women find it difficult and others easy. Society with its norms and ever-readiness to make all conform, places pressures and difficulties in the paths of many. Families may not all be harbours of milk and honey but in this volume we take a different view.

Here we journey with our classic poets from Christina Georgina Rossetti and Thomas Hardy to Frances W Harper and Kipling, not only the ways, the wonders and the women who take on the responsibility to raise children no matter the problems or dangers to themselves, but also the difficulties and sometimes desperate tragedies that motherhood can involve.

We hope these poems inspire every generation to reach out and better themselves and those around. This is our tribute to mothers everywhere.