Gone

Hiding in the bedroom closet                                           
Rose tried not to breath,                                                    
Fearing her son-in-law, Lou                                                      
Might find and rape her.                                                  
 
Over the past two years,
While living with Ruth,
She had reformed her world view,
And would now not leave the house.
 
Rose had loved Lou,
But now confused him
With the anti-semites in her shtetl                
Who had raped Jewish girls.                
 
Ruth had fought to stay in Brooklyn,
Near her mother’s apartment
But now could no longer house Rose,
Who was moving into a fantasy world.
 
Rather than move to an “old age” home                   
Rose volunteered
To live in the closet,                         
And eat less.                                                                   
 
The “home”smelled of urine                                                                   
But Rose did not notice
She wore her nightgown backward
Nor could she identify her family visitors


Such was the families regard for her
That thirty cousins visited Rose.
She had held the family together.
She lingered for two terrible years.