Επιμέλεια: Εύα Πετροπούλου Λιανού
I do not know a universe without you, Mother,
Nor a silence that isn’t shaped by your voice.
You live in me – not as blood or thought,
But as the first light that gives form to shadow.
You are my Before, my Now,
And the After I’ve yet to understand.
With each day I’m born anew,
You remain the seed of my becoming.
You are not merely the woman who gave me life –
You are the architect of my being,
The shelter where my soul finds breath,
The mirror through which I emerge.
In the quiet moments, when you’re not near,
Your presence still speaks from within.
And when I falter, you don’t call aloud –
You reach with hands that move beneath the surface.
You are the gravity of my essence –
All that strays finds its way back to you.
No matter how far I drift,
I never forget where I began.
And one day, when you sleep
In silence as vast as the cosmos I came from,
I will already know: you have not left.
You will have only drawn closer.
For “Mother” is the name
Of all that never fades.
Mother
In your gaze, mother, the universe hides,
like Aristotle’s teachings, you are both the beginning and the end.
Your hands shape destinies,
each word you speak brings light, each breath is peace.
Your love is more than tenderness,
it is the strength that guides us through storms.
Like Dostoevsky’s questions,
you carry a silence no one understands,
but in that silence, all answers live.
Through your heart, the world is reborn,
like Goethe’s verse, the soul is eternal,
and everything that is fleeting,
finds its strength to endure within you.
In you is Shakespeare’s cry and sorrow,
but also a love that never ends,
you are the one who embraces, who forgives,
with hands that wipe away all tears,
and a heart that never knows an end.
You are, mother, philosophy in a single glance,
your existence gives meaning to the world,
for without your love, everything would be empty,
and in you, every day is a new beginning.
BIOGRAPHY
Emina Tanović, born in 2005 in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, graduated from Secondary Medical School and is a student. A long-time karate champion and national representative, she specializes in kata. Emina writes poetry and prose, with works that have won awards in literary competitions across the Balkans and globally. She studies English, German, Turkish, and Russian. Inspired by everyday interactions, she channels them into her literary work and plans to publish her first book soon.
