My Mother used to say:
Laughter and light—
That’s all it takes to deal with life.
And, with that,
She became urgently busy,
Worked like a horse,
Cooking, washing,
Bedroom to cellar,
Cupboard to attic,
Windows and walls,
Until her hands were like the hands
Of a day laborer:
Out of the water
Into the dough,
Out of the dough,
Into the water.
And running, running
Running like a heavy bird
Newly created and already sick
That hardly knows what food
It ought to eat
Well . . .
When she came to die
It’s true that she had, indeed,
A golden candelabrum for
Her Chanukahs,
But, as for laughter . . .
Hush—
An ugly story.
From: https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/leonard-wolf/a-group-of-poems/
Date: 1959 (original in Yiddish); 1959 (translation in English)
By: Leonard George Wolf (1923-2019)
Translated by: Leonard George Wolf (1923-2019)
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