IF MY GRANDMOTHER COULD HAVE WRITTEN A POSTCARD TO THE SISTER LEFT BEHIND

It would be written
on sand, or on a
hand colored photo
graph of a country
with nobody waiting
with guns, no thatched
roofs on fire, no
hiding in trees after
a knock on the
door: Sister, it is
nothing like we had
or what we imagined.
There are no Jews
in the small rural
towns hardly. They
don’t spit or say
we are thieves but
it is as icy in Vermont
as days in Russia.
Lake Champlain is
not like our sea. We
are safe, we are
lonely

by Lyn Lifshin


*Lyn's website:
http://www.lynlifshin.com/books.htm