The Kid

Mom took me here.

“Here is better”, she said.

a place with two beds and non-else and

where food comes from above — obviously

I heard what the old man said;

“Anyone above you is a god”.

I heard the woman answer;

“Whose god are you referring to?”

Mom told me there are too many gods.

it shifts depending on the need

“The need is the god”,

I can’t understand her now, maybe tomorrow; Only — if my God allows me.

Hide and seek, Mom loved it —

we played all day every day;

“Stay under the bed until I say end.”

Down here is the safest, because no one wants it

Demand is danger, again I do not understand.

why mom hid under red mud, I kiss her still

Mom looked tired but retains the smile

her eyes were never closed. She watched me instead.

There were no beds where we used to live

no table prepared for us to feast,

food doesn’t come from above in there —

We share the leaves, for it is always enough.

I am hungry. The sun rose twice and still I hid.

Mom’s not back since the last one to ten.

Food came with two men. He saw me, that one —

Like mom, their faces filled with red mud

His hands calling me, Come out come out

The other handed me a cake as he cried,

Are they gods? Maybe not. I don’t know.

The game never ended, and Mom never came back.

“…Not until I say end.”