ELEGY

by Richard Schnap

She said she wanted to have
A champagne cocktail before she died
When I sat with her in her apartment
As she told me about her life
How when she visited Israel
She felt like she was home
And how "There's someone watching over us,
That's not true for everyone."

When she passed her family left
The picture I gave her in the hall
And when I told her daughter I missed her
She replied a lot of people did
And she did have the champagne cocktail
She swore she would live to taste
As a mourning dove perched on my window
Sang sorrowfully the whole next day