Lamp of the Body

Moses

22 moses Leaving him with little more than prayers that the pitch would hold, his mother hoped another would take him from the river into her slender, sunned arms, and name him. Where will I be when you open your drowsy mouth to another’s breasts as soft as fresh figs, as though your first breath is of her skin? Far off as myth, lamenting locks of your hair the birds refuse to bring me out of loyalty to her? What will I call you then? Not love, but a memory of loving.What a quiet concession: a mother calling her son by the name another had chosen, Moses, meaning drawn from the water. ...