TW: Religious themes

———

My mother used to say,

_Closed mouths don’t get fed._

But I was too young

and too hungry,

my stomach screamed over

my heart and I couldn’t say,

_Why don’t you care about me? _

I forgot how I hated this.

_Closed mouths don’t get fed. _

I was not a bird in the nest.

You should have saw the hunger

in my eyes,

in my heavy eyes,

in my need for love.

What mother, when her child asks

for some bread, would give him a stone?

_Run along, my boy, run along. _

_Closed mouths don’t get fed. _

God, on the days I forget You,

remember me, and fill me with

the food that is needful for me.