Maya’s Pearls (14 Nov)

The young widow of a Jew,

Made her way out,

With a child in her arms,

And one in her gut

Her husband was missing,

Presumed dead,

Running from the destructive Nazis,

Her nationality she did shed

On the way across the Atlantic,

She birthed her young one’s sister,

The two of them was all she had,

I’ll take care of you, she whispered

She bargained all of her possessions,

In exchange for money,

Except for the necklace of pearls—old and trite,

Which some found funny

She worked hard and without tiring,

She kept away from anything illicit,

Money comes and money goes, 

What stays with you are the values you exhibit

Her daughters grew to be smart and healthy,

They ensured then that Maya had plenty,

Why didn’t you sell the pearls,

Her daughters asked her one day,

You did give away everything else,

What’s special about them anyway

Nothing at all, Maya commented,

To her daughters’ surprise,

They were an insurance you see,

A hope of a kind

I’d lost everything,

Except for you two,

Even if nothing else,

I had saved this to give you

For all I did,

And all I ever wanted,

Which kept me alive and sufficiently well,

Was to one day see my children swell