{Guest author Mina Friedler is a poet living in Venice, CA. She wrote this poem after her mother, Selma Stern,recently passed at age 93. Her mother escaped the Holocaust from Vienna to Palestine}
“Let’s take a walk,” you say, ” and I walk with you
along the aisles of the Farmer’s Market
Oy, the apples, so beautiful!
Blueberry pie it smells so good!
You want me to buy you a piece?
Listen! Blue Donau music fon Vienna!
Your blue eyes sparkle
guileless, like a child
“This is my daughter!” you say proudly
They call you “Auntie”
Frenchman, cooking his crepes
“How is your wife today your business, is it good
your son, has he called you?”
Jewelry man, survivor from Germany
“Is your heart better, did you fix the lock on your door?”
Neighbor from Africa working two jobs missing his family
“It will be alright you will be successful
Just be a mensch!”
It’s the child in you, forced from her home
mother, father, brothers not knowing
if you will ever see them again,
that sees into the heart of the displaced the broken ones
making them feel as if you know their pain
Because you do
3,000 strangers on a leaking freighter, the Saturnus
instead of 900 bound for Palestine
Nine months in Atlit British displaced persons’ camp
Alone cast out afraid
Missing home
Waiting for the time
you will find your family
Together
Mama stretches out her arms
Finally you are home
-mina
{Mina Friedler is a poet living in Venice, CA. She wrote this poem after her mother, Selma Stern,recently passed at age 93. Her mother escaped the Holocaust from Vienna to Palestine}
