Passover

Though she was not religious, we ate matzo

for the whole week of Passover, often searching

for hours in our rural neighborhood

for a store that sold matzo, and the store

that sold matzo one year did not always sell it

the next so she always bought more

than we needed, and for the Passover after

her death I had no need buy any more matzo,

but none of her family celebrated Passover,

she was the one who insisted on Passover,

but the family expressed an impatience,

as she prompted the men on procedure

and pronunciation, to get on with it and eat,

and when her niece gave birth to twins and

one twin was stillborn, her niece and

husband crying and confused, she insisted

that they deal with the dead one

he should have a proper burial

with proper Jewish prayers,

so many ancestors had been killed

with no ceremony and no memory

and this one child will be buried

with honor and memory

and the Family did gather to bury the child

and we said prayers for him, and

Kaddish, the Jewish Prayer for the Dead,

which we said for him

and for them

and for us,

and that was the last act

she did for her family

and at the Thanksgiving

following her death

the non Jewish husband of her niece

opined

she will be missed,

but she was cantankerous.

Peter Goodwin