REMEMBERING 41 LINDEN TERRACE

While waiting for me, mother grinds wheat
to bake chapatti bread, makes tofu and wheat grass
from scratch, and waters the weeping cherry tree

we planted the day after we moved in.
She sings sweet lullabies like the faint strains
of Ofyn prirpetshik…,that I hear as I roll up to my house.

My family so alive with the music of love,
and could turn a desert into bloom.
I had no fear of death,
until I heard their laughter.

Raising three kids, there are always worries
about strep throats, mastoidal ears,
and broken bones.

Ever since my youngest crushed a finger
leaving the school bus, and the oldest
had a concussion in an ice skating fall,

I’m afraid when I get home, especially,
after my wife totaled our Vista Cruiser,
car-pooling the kids, when a kamikaze Mustang

appeared out of nowhere doing 60 in a 25 mph zone.

MILTON P. EHRLICH 199 CHRISTIE ST. LEONIA, N.J. 07605
BIFFMAN2002@ YAHOO.COM