History Is Our Mother by Alice Goodman

Author:Alice Goodman
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781681370651
Publisher: New York Review Books
Published: 2017-06-20T04:00:00+00:00

The passengers are herded from the cafeteria to the Tapestry Room.

SWISS GRANDMOTHER

My grandson Didi, who was two,

—And what a brave and lovely boy

He was, and still is—had agreed

Not to see the Great Pyramid.

The others disembarked. “I’ll stay

With Grandmother,” he said. So we

Strolled for a while around the deck

And watched the sailors at their work;

Then to our cabin for a brief

Rest, and the steward’s autograph.

We washed our hands, made ourselves neat,

And with the kind of appetite

Associated with sea air,

Went looking for some lunch. No more

Of that. The next thing I recall

Is people screaming. Horrible.

To see one’s fellow men become

Like beasts, diminished by each scream,

That, for me, is what shocks. How thin

The coat is: unlined velveteen,

And underneath, the monkey’s back.

So I said to my grandson, “Luck

Is on our side. Your parents will

Be jealous. We shall think them dull

Not to have shared this escapade.

Remember everything,” I said.

Now I think, how could we forget?

How could we even contemplate

The effort of remembering?

Everything comes back, everything.

We are quite helpless, as we were

Shuffling along that corridor

Out of the dining room; half bored,

Half terrified. I am afraid

I thought, “At least we are not Jews.”

The hijacking lasted two days.

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