“oh antic God”

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oh antic God
return to me
my mother in her thirties 
leaned across the front porch 
the huge pillow of her breasts 
pressing against the rail
summoning me in for bed.

I am almost the dead woman’s age times two.

I can barely recall her song
the scent of her hands
though her wild hair scratches my dreams 
at night. return to me, oh Lord of then 
and now, my mother’s calling,
her young voice humming my name.

© Paul Celan