Mary, my great-grandmother

  

 Hi Adele, this is a picture of my great-grandmother, Mary Becker Axelrod, who came alone to New York from Lithuania when she was 14 to join her parents, already there. Her brave journey, her enthusiasm for life, and her love have always been an inspiration and comfort to me; she lived into her 90’s and I am glad I had many years to know her.  I love this picture of her on the beach: she was in her late 70’s, or even 80 at the time! It shows her spirit.  (and it’s good to see on this rainy June morning).  Here are a few lines from a poem I wrote about her (adapted a bit from the original).  You, too, have been an inspiration in my art, work, and life – and I hope you have people like Mary in your heart, to keep you safe and warm.

Speak to me of love, sweet as honey and jam,

seasoned with tears...

I talk to you now, across the years...

The plants on your windowsill

grow green beside a brick wall. You are warm

as fresh-baked bread.  I need you now,

and I knead these images in my mind

like challah to be braided, shaped, leavened,

rising in the dark into words we can eat like bread, stories

to help us through the night.

You are warm in a cold season –

Over the water of time, I call to you, 

in a language I am learning to know.

Ellen S. Jaffe (whole poem published in Skinny-Dipping with the Muse, 2014)