Grandmother

Grandmother went hungry
in Poland in war,
she remembers stale bread
like a party.

She remembers the screaming,
the shots and the bombs
and the children,
their begging and crying.

The hugging of fear
of the family all
and the panic
that soldiers could touch her.

The smell of the corpses,
the odor of smoke
from the sinister chimneys
of Auschwitz.

Grandmother left Europe
and arrived at our port,
watching Freedom
saluting her coming.

And Freedom, while dancing
and singing with joy,
stopped a while
and invited Grandmother.