dedicated to Ruth Stock Zober
Generations slipping away
From Russian to Ukraine
Poland to Lithuania
Ambridge to Pittsburgh
like a ticking clock
that has run out of time
We know that all things end
but it is quite something
when they actually do
Sharing last laughs and smiles
and breaths and song
Trying to imprint the very soul
of our loved ones
onto our hearts so that memory
doesn’t fail
as memory always does
To let go
of all that was
is to let go
of the fabric of who we are
stubborn as hell
smart as all getA writ of divorce. Traditionally, only a man can grant his wife a get. Liberal Jews have amended this tradition, making divorce more egalitarian. out
creative and funny
warm, but hot headed
defensive, but fiercely loyal
Holding onto the pain of the past
we hold onto stories as well
How do we know what will outlive us?
We all want to be remembered
our lives to count for something
If only we could
number our days
but we cannot count
the quality of a life
Out of the millions of stars
in this galaxy
we are merely brilliant flecks
of golden dust
shining brightly
before all of our stories
and all of our songs
are enveloped by darkness
and we exist only in the past
the newest members
of the Pliskover underground shtetl
still stretching out
to become somehow more vast
an eternal part
of the great expanse
of the cosmos
