MY MOTHER’S BOY

When my mother comes to visit,

she can see that I cannot stay here.

Through my tears, I tell her

everything.

The wolves circle.

They are always nipping at us.

Sometimes they bite.

And sometimes they rip us apart.

The work is hard.

I am grateful for the men who

take up my slack

when the wolves are not watching.

I am hungry for my family.

I want to go home.

My clever mother

has a plan.

She sneaks me out

under her coat.

Wrapped in her arms,

my feet walking in sync with her own,

I breathe in her smell.

We are almost one person.

I can feel her heart pounding

in her chest.

And I can hear her muffled prayer.

She does not ask if she should do this,

she tells the Master of the Universe,

respectfully,

that she is taking me.

We walk right out of the camp.

God has graciously granted her request.

My mother is not a thief.

She has reclaimed me.

I am my mother’s boy

a little while longer.