Sometimes lost
in the despair of my dreams
I unexpectedly bump into the light you bring
always surprised that my shrouded Judaism
springs into consciousness

in Spain you twirled
between goat and sky
the shtetl slowly sinking
in the Basque twilight

In Toronto of all places
we met again
amongst poured concrete
rounded towers

we watched together
those slanted houses perched between
couples
floating with fiddles and old men
dancing

and today in Chicago
a true witness that the brush
is mightier than the shashka
more permanent than the ovens
a complete surprise

you introduced me to
your beggared father
in tallit
and tefillin
staring at me defiant

soaring
free of the gatekeeper
pointing left or right