She died yesterday and will be buried
in her traditional way at sundown today.
She was irritable much of her life,
yelled about the potatoes if they weren't right
in the middle of our meal out,
did not want to see me until I was a Jew.
Oh but now I remember.
Her family was torn to pieces in Russia.
Her blessing as a young woman
was only a little chicken fat once a week,
but with it she could make a few potatoes
dance like they were at a wedding.
She grew kinder and weaker with age.
She accepted me at last for who I was,
divorced, older, stronger, and a stranger.
Today I pray for her as a Jew,
for the broken flowers of the Testament,
for the good of the house she made,
for her kind and obdurate daughter,
for the wandering we all share.
No comments:
Post a Comment