{"id":54308,"date":"2026-03-24T16:56:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T16:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/interfaith\/?page_id=54308"},"modified":"2026-03-24T17:10:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T17:10:40","slug":"poem","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/interfaith\/poem\/","title":{"rendered":"Poem:"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>The Moon in the Middle of the Day<\/h3>\n<h3>by Rahma Mohamed<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Moon in the Middle of Day by Rahma Mohamed\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/C3iSLcHLuow?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>By the window,<br \/>\nI watch the snow fall.<br \/>\nA group of Somali aunts walk toward our house,<br \/>\ntheir hands full of bags of food and supplies.<br \/>\nI run to open the door,<br \/>\nleading them into the living room.<br \/>\nBefore joining them,<br \/>\nI go to my grandmother\u2019s room.<br \/>\nShe sits on her prayer mat,<br \/>\neyes like rivers.<br \/>\nIn my life,<br \/>\nI have only seen her cry a few times.<br \/>\nNow, her tears river away,<br \/>\ncarrying memories she buried long ago<br \/>\nstories from a civil war<br \/>\nI am still too young to understand.<br \/>\nToday, she cries because her daughter was taken by ICE.<br \/>\nBecause her daughter was born to a woman<br \/>\nwho carries her home with her,<br \/>\nnot an orange ripened on one branch.<br \/>\nAnd now, we long but never fully belong<br \/>\nto a land<br \/>\nonly to a community.<br \/>\nGrandma and I return to the living room,<br \/>\nwhere the women are already gathered.<br \/>\nSomewhere in the kitchen,<br \/>\nfood has already been prepared<br \/>\nand laid out for us,<br \/>\nas if they knew hunger would arrive before we did.<br \/>\nThe women speak gently with my grandmother.<br \/>\nTheir voices move like warm tea steam,<br \/>\nsoft but steady.<br \/>\nThe girls come to sit beside me,<br \/>\nplaying with my toys<br \/>\nand helping me with my homework.<\/p>\n<p>The sun begins to set.<br \/>\nA Gabay (Somali poetry) hums quietly in the<br \/>\nbackground,<br \/>\nblending with laughter and whispered<br \/>\nconversations.<br \/>\nOne of the women stands,<br \/>\nguiding my grandmother carefully<br \/>\nto help her make Wudu (ablution).<br \/>\nThey move slowly,<br \/>\nwith patience<br \/>\nthat feels older than language.<br \/>\nAt 6 p.m.,<br \/>\nit is time for them to go home.<br \/>\nThey gather their coats,<br \/>\ntheir scarves,<br \/>\ntheir quiet kindness.<br \/>\nTomorrow,<br \/>\nI will wait for them again.<br \/>\nAnd I learn from them<br \/>\nhow to show up with hope and love<br \/>\nthe way they do.<br \/>\nLike generosity<br \/>\nlike the moon in the middle of the day<br \/>\npresent<br \/>\neven when it does not shine,<br \/>\neven when its light is not needed.<br \/>\nTo be generous<br \/>\nis not only to give light,<br \/>\nbut to carry the responsibility to show up.<br \/>\nTo give when unseen.<br \/>\nTo wait beside someone\u2019s pain.<br \/>\nTo witness.<br \/>\nTo remain.<br \/>\nBeautifully,<br \/>\nin patience.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Artist Statement:<\/strong><br \/>\nThis piece reflects on generosity as the quiet act of showing up for one another. Through the eyes of a young girl, it honors the Muslim women who carry their communities with patience, food, prayer, and presence. The buildings of Riverside Plaza and the memorial flowers remind us that behind every window and every tribute are lives held together by care. Like the moon in the middle of the day, generosity remains present even when its light goes unnoticed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Artist Bio<\/strong><br \/>\nRahma Mohamed is a Minnesota-based writer in her final year at Augsburg University, where she will soon complete her Bachelor of Arts. She began writing poetry at fourteen and self-published her first collection, Mirror in Mind, at seventeen. Rooted in her Somali community, her work reflects on identity, belonging, and the quiet details of everyday life. She is currently working on her second book and hopes to continue growing as both a poet and creative director.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Moon in the Middle of the Day by Rahma Mohamed &nbsp; By the window, I watch the snow fall. &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":642,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-54308","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/interfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/interfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/interfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/interfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/642"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/interfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54308"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/interfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54313,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/interfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54308\/revisions\/54313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/interfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}