an old greek nun recalls her youth

An Old Greek Nun Recalls Her Youth

An Old Greek Nun Recalls Her Youth

I never thought to spend my life alone.
On many nights my fingers conjured hands
that never grazed this curve, that secret moss
whose dampness Yannis (no doubt Nikos, too)
imagined, trembling, when he dreamt my shape.

One midnight, near the end of June,
I stood before the mirror, nude. In light
the candle scarcely whispered, I invoked
St. John, then slept content with ancient lore:
the name next heard would be my destined mate.

 

Michael Bradburn-Ruster

Michael Bradburn-Ruster has published poetry, fiction, translations, and scholarly works in international journals including Cincinnati Review, Poetry Salzburg Review, Sacred Web, Eastown Fiction, Damazine (Syria), and Antigonish Review. Forthcoming publications include Grey Sparrow Journal and Drunken Boat. He has been a featured reader at the Monterey Bay Poetry Festival. He earned a doctorate from UC Berkeley, and has taught literature, philosophy, comparative religions and mythology in California, Oregon, and Arizona.

 

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