REASONS

When she was in her teens
My father's mother Esther
Worked in a cigarette factory.
True, hers was in Lvov, a city
Which, depending on the weather
Was Polish or Austro-Hungarian
Or even Ukrainian, but not Spanish.
Nor, I am fairly certain, did she
Have affairs with bullfighters
Or get sprung from jail by Don Jose.
She sometimes danced by the river
But probably not with gypsies.
For these reasons, and others,
Including Bizet's decision to die
Ten years or so before her birth,
There is no opera about her.