For mama
By - Mariam Alwattari
mama is tea and milk served piping hot
with just a pinch of sugar
she's unrhymed hums of Arabic songs
as sunshine streams through the window
-a fragrant pot of basmati rice is about to burn
but, just in time, she comes to the rescue-
she is a promise never unfulfilled
(I always keep my word, mama, because I learned that from you)
-and how she takes her time in what she carefully pursues,
I learned that from you mama too
***
she is gentle fingers stroking soft-whispered prayers over my worried head,
still of night
comforting me through and through
habibti, patient is a virtue
She is strength in pain
she is beauty in hardship
she is everything good I do
