God Knows Where

My father’s father’s father’s father's father father before him,

Came from Russia maybe Poland maybe Lvov or Lublin

My mother’s mother’s mother’s mother's mother before her,

From Vilna, Lithuania near the Polish border

I come from them

They came from there

To another country on a journey

To God knows where

I’m the fourth generation

Since my not so distant relations

Left the villages and ghettos for another land

The Star of David, the Menorah,

The Talmud and the Torah

Behold the diaspora from the mother land

On the trains and the boats there they are

Packed together like roll-mop herrings in a jar

They arrive in immigration

They can hardly spell their names

After decontamination

They are never quite the same

They are Greens now, they are Browns now

They are Silvers they are Golds

They are waking, they are waiting

For their stories to unfold

I come from them

They came from there

To another country on a journey

To God knows where

 We live and learn

We laugh and cry

One day we’re born

One day we die

We come from here

We go to there

And we’re all on a journey

To God knows where