Mothers Love

By Adewusi Aisha 

A mother’s love

is the only place

where even broken children

still feel worthy of being held.

She hides her pain

inside ordinary days.

Inside food on the table.

Inside “Did you sleep well?”

Inside prayers whispered

when everyone else is asleep.

Nobody really sees

how much a mother sacrifices.

The dreams she postpones.

The tears she wipes away quickly.

The way she carries the weight of everyone

while pretending she is not tired.

A mother can be hurting deeply

and still ask if you are okay first.

That kind of love

is not normal love.

It is the kind that bleeds quietly

without asking to be noticed.

And one day,

you suddenly realize

the woman you kept calling “Mama”

was fighting silent battles

while still trying to make your life soft.

You notice her aging hands.

Her slower footsteps.

The tiredness hidden in her smile.

And your heart breaks a little

because mothers make sacrifice look so easy

that children rarely understand it in time.

If love had a face,

I think it would look like a mother

waiting awake until her child gets home safely.

Happy Mother’s Day

to the women

who loved us harder than life loved them.