Lemon Breast of the Virgin Mary

Up near the neck,

sticking out from unperforated cloth

like some new miracle,

it’s shaped like a small lemon.

Young Jesus reaches for lemonade,

or bites the rind.

Mary does not seem alarmed

at her partial transformation to tree

like a common nymph.

She never seems surprised

to have given birth to an old man.

She does not even seem to notice

the encroaching cross, appearing

at the edge of the painting.

She is the essence of vegetal calm,

unlike her Roman counterparts,

so much pleading to remain a virgin from the gods.