Triptych
When my mother She who is not All at once
Was a young girl Who she was I could see
Before the War Waits to be My mother
Reading sad books Yet she is In eternity
By the river Already I told her
Sometimes, she Mother She always
Looked up, wisely Whose child Would be
But did not dream Though not yet The one
The day I would Could not be Whose son
Be born to her An other You see
Copyright Credit: Samuel Menashe, “Triptych” from Samuel Menashe: New and Selected Poems, edited by Christopher Ricks, published by The Library of America, 2005. Copyright © 2004 by Samuel Menashe. Used by permission of the author.
Source: Samuel Menashe: New and Selected Poems (The Library of America, 2005)