Of the daughter whose voice
Is a slow wreckage ball at the
World’s madness, bless the things
She has endured, the songs
Of waking up to blame,
The crack in her mouth,
Eyes sullen by grief,
She will go into the world
And come out alive,
The lake of suffering distance
From her dreams,
She walks with a fright,
Conquers the part of her heart
Where God put the soul,
Open the doors for others wide
Enough to accommodate sunshine.
[A poem exhibited at The Optimist’s Incomplete Exhibition and also performed at the Heritage Day, as part of the Benue Book and Arts Festival at the DH Lawrence Birthplace Museum, Eastwood, Nottingham on 12 September 2026]
Fauziyya Muhammad Kabir is a UK-based Nigerian writer who describes her work as an exploration of ordinary life, warm but honest, tender but with a spine. She loves love, the kitchen, and Warsan Shire’s Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head. With music, she does Sade when feeling herself, Adele when she needs a good, unscheduled cry, and Maher Zain when feeling spiritual.
