A Daughter

Johanna Maria Anna Elisabeth, born 22nd March 1789, is lodged with the wet nurse and taking suck - I write, lying on my bed, facing the wall. ‘Milk fever,’ a voice whispers from behind closed door. ‘Unhinged by birth’ – like a rusty gate. No, no, they are mistaken. I am a failed milch cow, playing someone else’s figured bass. Do NOT feel pity for me. I am, you see, Freyfrau Anna Maria Walburga Ignatia Berchtold zu Sonnenburg - née Mozart. Ay, there’s the rub, who WAS Mozart but who IS no more. N.