When you were young,
did you ever
make-believe
you were a loving mother?
Was a wonderful
mother ever
not the perfect cover
for the God
whom you adored
but whose name
must not be mentioned?
Back then,
did you wonder
how a few scraps
of bread
and a muttered amen
could stand in
for your redemption?
What about now?
Is a tender parent still
a punitive savior?
How does one thing
come to mean
another?
