page 62

Love Poem for a War

She carried the war
Around with her everywhere.
When she walked under the feijoa trees
The war brushed lightly against their leaves.
She had been a young teacher.
Jews hid in her family's barn.
When a man came and married her
The children asked
'Why are you stealing our teacher?'
She tells this story
With wet eye corners
A laugh between her lips.