Hi, Prosperous Snow celebrating !

          Overall +/- :
My thoughts on the piece as a whole...

         I'm here from "I Write in 2019"  to read and review your work. What a thoughtful and generous poem for your spiritual mother! She sounds like a wonderful person with an open heart. Thank you for sharing your work! I like the details you share here, and I love the image you paint of the poem's subject. While reading, I noticed a few small things that could be polished to add weight to the poem. I'll talk a bit more about those below.

          Rhythm & Flow:
Whether freeverse or tightly-structured formal poetry, flow is paramount.

         This is unrhymed freeverse poetry. The places you chose to put the line breaks made for a largely smooth read for me, though! It's likely my own brain's silly expectations that tripped me up on this line, but, Age was never a barrier / to her for expressing her love was slightly bumpy for me, somehow. Perhaps Age was never a barrier to her / for expressing her love or even Age never hindered / her expressions of love could read more smoothly?

          Language & Word Choice:
Because poetry is one of the briefer art forms, every word matters.

         I love the concrete details you provided of your spiritual mother's open-armed generosity of spirit! Some less-strong verbs and existential "it" constructions could be polished to add some shine to this already interesting poem.

          Things I liked :
Sometimes phrases or lines jump off the page.

What a kind tribute! It brought a smile to my face.

          Suggestions:
Take them with a grain of salt.

It was in the season of giving,
the five days of Ayyam-i-Ha,
that I learned to love humanity — This poem contains three existential "it" constructions. Used in moderation, they can add to a poem, but to me they seemed a bit excessive, especially since this construction creates extra words and requires the use of a state-of-being verb (am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been). Poetry, as a hyper-condensed art form, can benefit from the use of powerful verbs. Even some simple rephrasing makes the language seem more immediate (though if immediacy is not your intent, no worries!)

Original:

It was in the season of giving,
the five days of Ayyam-i-Ha,
that I learned to love humanity
from my spiritual mother.

Potential revision:

In the season of giving,
the five days of Ayyam-i-Ha,
I learned to love humanity
from my spiritual mother.

Then again, the "it was" construction can create a mystical feeling (for me, at least). Using it three times sort of dampened the effect for me, but rephrasing some of the other lines to add stronger verbs could help if that aligned with your vision for the poem.

It was in the days
leading up the The Fast
that she came into her own. — This second instance of the construction actually takes the focus away from your spiritual mother. In the "existential 'it'" construction, the word "it" becomes a "dummy subject." The true subject of the sentence (she) is buried under all the other information.

Age was never a barrier
to her for expressing her love — I mentioned this briefly above, but removing the state-of-being verb could add some strength here. For example, Age never obstructed her, Age never hindered her, or wearing her age like a fine cloak / light as air / she sowed love [...]. These alternatives are off the top of my head, though, and if this is the sort of revision you wish to make, I'm sure you could easily come up with much better options.

her volunteer work increased
at food kitchens,
(and) food banks,
with migrants,
and the homeless. — This is perfectly serviceable description! I am a terrible, greedy reader and wish I had more of a concrete image of the work she did in these places and with these people. I know she worked with them, but I wish I knew how. If detail is not something you can or want to provide, that's more than okay! It may help to add "and" remove the unnecessary commas after "kitchens" and "migrants." If you listed three or more items without conjunctions like "and" between each item, those commas would be necessary, but since you list only two examples of each thing, they are not. Examples of necessary commas: Food kitchens, food banks, and donation centers. Unnecessary, because each of the items is joined by a conjunction: Migrants and runaways and the homeless

she gave joy and time
to those who needed it most. — My greedy reader is back again. I would love to see more of this giving—sensory descriptions of her generosity. I imagine her smilingly dispensing blankets and welcoming people into a warm place where they could sleep, secure in their safety if only for a night.

          In Closing:
Any final thoughts...

         I'm only one reader, and I hope my suggestions don't strike you as too presumptuous. Sometimes when I read a poem that interests me, I can't help wanting more. Of course, please take or leave any suggestions that don't match with your intentions for this poem. Thanks for sharing, and...

Write On!



My review has been submitted for consideration in "Good Deeds Get CASH!" .