For you, who has a mother’s heart

For you, who is sharing one morsel of rice with three others

For you, who is watching your child wither away, dying from pain

For you, who stays awake all night to lull your child from the noise of bombs

For you, the one who cannot offer the warmth your sick child needs

For you, who is surrounded by drought and barren plains

For you, who doesn’t know where home now is

For you, who worries about crossing borders, sinking ships and hostile lands

For you, who cannot escape your mind even when you’ve escaped the enemy

For you, who wants to see your child smile, live under security and protection

For you, who loves your child like I love mine

For you, who fights thoughts, people and places, to bring your child happiness

For you, who prays for a better day, a better life and a better, safer future

For you, a mother, I send for you dua, from my heart and from my soul

For you, a message from me, also a mother, that my heart pains for you, knowing what I have and what you don’t, knowing I am safe and you are not, for you, I ask Him

For you, you are not forgotten, you often cross my mind, when I am in the midst of comfort, when I reach my warm home, I think of you, I think how I am here and you are there, how different our lives are but how He etched inside of us both, a unique heart of a mother

For you, know that you are mentioned in my duas, that I feel shame for not being there for you, but I ask the One who granted me motherhood and granted you the same, to raise you, for Him to raise you above me and to be Kind to you

For you, a mother I am not, but a mother I will forever remember and for whom I will utter words of praise and seek protection

For you, hold on to Him, for there will be gardens, under which rivers will flow for you, where your pain will no longer be your companion, where you will find no scars, where you will reside in eternal comfort. For you, I utter these words to Him.

Umm Y

Gilded Dunya