DOLORES
Phyllis Berman
When I grew fat
my mother guessed
and called me sinner
and maybe that was true
but there was little
pleaseure in it.
In my dreams
the baby was always a boy
like Moses.
I knew they would take him in
and love him
and I could watch him grow
without him knowing.
I bought a little basket,
cut a piece
of my blanket off
to wrap him
and thought that I might leave him
at the door of a church.
In the end I was all alone
and it was a little girl in me
and what could there be
for either of us?
