On the sixth day of Chanuka

last night

we arrived late at the Chanuka party

the rabbi was just leaving

after having lit the Menorah

six  candles

however

the doctor who had . delivered two of my children

was there

and so were some women i knew

A father of four children

came over to invite my small son

over on christmas vacation

when we all don't celebrate.

we talked about the holocaust

as i finished off the uneaten holiday meal

off three plates my children left

as they ran off to play in the corridor.

We talked about having never to throw away food

and he told me how his parents had been hidden

by kind Dutch people during the war

and how his father found a friend from school

living in the  apartment below his .

I dressed the pain in laughter

and made my life seem exciting and careless

as a river flowing,

( i omitted the stones)

the conversation nearly always reached

dangerous water where sharks awaited

for blood

but i managed to keep flowing

in a sort of pride parade

I am here!

The wife came holding a baby

and the father resumed his role

as a father

and went home to his family

while i stayed for a while

listening to an American soprano

singing George Gerswin

then we went home in the rain

and had a tram all to ourselves

to sing and dance

all the way back.

We lit the candles late

i was a wave breaker

we placed the rage to bed

and forgot the flames

and in the morning

they were gone

and we have to start all over again

tonight.