Am I Jewish? A Sonnet.

Parts and pieces

Yes, my arms and legs are me you see

What is wrong with two blue circles in brown

Whether upstanding or slightly sharp down I frown

From a catching continent this was sent to me.

Banished branch, you are not the trustworthy tree

Four wheels are not the vehicle or the van

You think they transport pomegranates of our clan

No, distinguished sages have studied your plea.

Yes, my lengthy scarlet thread is not simply straight

It's tossed like a knight move in a game of chess

Not only one but one-third and eligible eight.

Languishing for her city is the arm of my right

Longing for its luster her generational mess

Reaching out to index its intriguing height.

Philipp von Heinsberg van Valkenburg 1167-1191, with Star of David 

Abigail Valkenburg, September 20, 2017

My Poem: Sounds of October

Sounds of October

The linden trees have their leaves and the poplars are still green

but the winds are more hasting and somewhat colder,

somewhat bolder. I've seen on my screen fashionable clothes

for the coming season.

Suddenly, at a shocking early time of the day

black darkness is pressing against the windows of my abode

trying to push the depression mode, no way, I kindle

a number of tea lights.

In a month of October I was born, greatly cherished,

making my young mother unaware of the Cuban Missile Crisis,

of the fear men would perish in a new World War:

cradle between icicles.

October, what can we expect, last of summer warmth,

first of winter's frost, a little rain amidst heavy downpours.

I love to be feasting in cuddling family arms, for sure,

 this time of year.

When the Second World War our hilltop villages invaded

my little mama and her baby sister were members of the Old Church,

ethnically safely hiding (comparable with crypto-Jews),

and they made it.

The year is old , the year is new, sweet  as honey and without hatred.

We are longtime related,  nations who know times and generations,

like God-fearing heroes rising to overcome woes and foes.

There are sounds in the sky.

my mother and I in 2016