NAR

Did the fool at the wedding look grimly

At the bride's sister, knowing she'll one day marry

A man named Moses Getreu and on another day,

 Have a child who'll write letters to her

On Snediker Street and on a third day,

Play a long last song, take a last deep breath,

And jump from a roof, meeting an angel

On her way to the street below?

FAMILY MATTERS

It is 1890; my grandmother Esther is one year old
And Max, whom she will someday marry,
Is two -- twice her age; it is obvious
They’ll never suit each other. Her mother
Is alive or dead. She anxiously asks me
Which but I don't know; after consideration
I allow my great grandmother more time
To walk the broad streets of Lvov and to look
At the river about which her daughter will dream
When she’s thousands of miles away.
Irina, Esther's sister, is already born
Or perhaps not. There may be other children;
I'll lodge them in Paris until I discover
Whether they existed. If they did,
I'll bring them home. If they didn't, at least
They'll have had some very good meals
And the consolation of speaking French
With Parisian grace and assurance.

IRINA

Arriving just too late to save her, Irina’s angel
Gave her company the entire way from the roof
Of her apartment building to the pavement
In the courtyard. My great aunt
Had excellent reasons for stepping off a roof.
Her angel had his reasons, too, for being late:
There was something wrong with his visa;
His wings did not match, one being longer
Than the other, so that when he wasn’t careful
He’d fly long, lazy circles, repeatedly finding
The Bug River beneath him when he’d meant
To trace the Vistula. Also, he was absent-minded
Once saving an old woman in Dublin
When he was scheduled to rescue a child
In Warsaw.

                    Irina, my grandmother’s older sister,
Listened to the angel as they fell, occasionally
Trying to get in a few words. She was a musician
Though what sort I don’t know. For years
My imagination gave her a violin but now
It demands stranger things, as if she deserved
Krumhorns and sackbuts and tall therebos.
It could be that she sang; perhaps her angel
Provided some sort of counterpoint.