Epilogue: Alone With My Mother, 1999
(front of pew)






The Book That Will Not Close





                            


                            Epilogue: Alone With My Mother, 1999
                            (back of pew)












PROCLAMATION (excerpt)

I SIT WITH MY MOTHER
FOR THE LAST HOUR, NEILA,
WHEN IT IS INSCRIBED
"WHO SHALL RISE AND WHO SHALL FALL

WHO SHALL LIVE AND WHO SHALL DIE."
I WAS BORN FROM THIS MOTHER
AND SHE, ETTA, WAS BORN FROM HINDA
AND HINDA HAS DIED AND ETTA'S TURN IS NEXT
(CAN I SAY THIS?)
AND MY TURN IS NEXT.
I MUST FACE THE CERTAINTIES.
THERE ARE ONLY TWO CERTAINTIES
SAYS A MIDRASH, ONLY TWO:
FROM A MOTHER, EM, WE BEGAN,
AS A DEAD PERSON, MET, WE WILL END.
THAT'S THE EMET, THAT'S THE TRUTH.
NOW I SIT ALIVE WITH MY MOTHER ALIVE
SHE IS 92 THIS YEAR AND WE SIT ALIVE
BEFORE THE GATES ARE SHUT.