My Mother, My Paradise

Mothers lose sleep for the child to dream while also abstaining from food so that the infant could be fed— Jaihoon’s poetic tribute to mothers

She served me
Until this day—
Her love: the sun,
Mine, a ray.

She lost sleep
For me to dream;
She left food
For me to be fed.

Of mind and body,
She suffered;
Her love grew
As she carried.

I kicked her bosom
When an infant,
Yet she stroked me
Unhesitant.

She inspired my legs,
Taught me to walk;
Every word I pronounced,
Listening to her talk.

‘Hasbi Rabbi’
She sang in my ears;
‘Noor Muhammad’
Shone all these years.

All my acts of worship
Are but under her feet.
Not two, but three worlds
I may need to pay respect.

If this son were
To enter paradise,
The warmth of her feet
May be the cause.

Her prayers for me:
Sincere than my own.
She bore much pain
To see me grown.

The pleasure of my Lord
Is in doing for her good.

Even as I laid in her womb,
Or be buried in the tomb:

She will continue her love
And pray for me forever.

If His Mercy, the entrance—
My mother, the key to paradise!

2005. Edited 2024