Sweetened Yogurt Mended My Heart

“Mom, sweetened yogurt!"

I would call out at certain times of the day.

Perhaps when she was deeply engrossed in work.

Mom wouldn’t make a sound.

She’d give me the first one,

a few hours later I’d ask again.

Mom would get irritated.

She’d roll her eyes, and I remember escaping the room.

Yet, I couldn’t give it up.

The next day again,

"Mom, sweetened yogurt!"

We were poor,

asking dad for chocolate was a luxury I didn’t have.

I would look at what was bought for my cousins.

I was alone, a bit older than them.

I was 10 but “I was the older one.”

I felt belittled.

I couldn’t talk, they would think I was deaf.

I talked, they mocked me.

I was always a wounded child

I grew up, became a successful woman.

Then I remembered that sweetened yogurt.

A refuge that healed my wounds.

I never got the same taste from any other food.

Mom would pour granulated sugar into the yogurt.

Maybe even she was worried about running out of sugar.

I was a child, I didn’t understand.

I was eating emotionally.

I was emotionally lacking.

There was no one to ask how I was,

to stroke my hair, to ask what I was doing.

Now, looking back,

I'm holding that child's hands.

“There’s as much sweetened yogurt as you want now!”

But please, don’t be sad anymore.

You were never inadequate.

You are worthy of love.

You are a blessing.

…

I must say, upon seeing this challenge, I immediately wanted to write and this is my first submission. Thank you for this poetry challenge that moved me and took me back to the past. Pardon any slips of the tongue.

Nazli