by Rebecca Thomas Ankeny

I sat thinking,
“Some cannot tolerate
father-God
the user, abuser, abandoner:
a god in that image
is impossible to trust”
I sat thinking,
“the same can be said for
mother-God”
then there came to me
the word: “Can a mother forget
her nursing child?”
“You know that she can,”
I responded
“yet her body reminds her,
her breasts fill and ache
with abundant milk,”
came the reply
“even so with you and me,
I cannot forget you, child.
“I ache to nurture you, to feed you;
my breasts fill and must give.”