«قَلْبِي عَلَى وِلْدِي انْفَطَرْ وِقَلْبْ وِلْدِي عَلَيَّ حَجَرْ»

This saying gives voice to how intensely parents feel for their offspring, whether one child or several. The parent's heart is pictured as split or cracked open, an image far stronger than ordinary worry, suggesting compassion so deep that it seems to wound the very person who carries it.

The second half turns to the offspring, whose heart toward the parent is stone. The line can be heard two ways: as a lament over love that goes unreturned, edged with reproach for indifference, or as a way of showing that a parent's tenderness persists even when met with coldness. Both readings rest on that stark imbalance.

Suited to remarks on how deep a parent's tenderness runs, especially when describing a mother's or father's anxious care set beside the much cooler feeling their offspring show toward them.