They would have done anything for the
privilege of dying without
passports.
privilege of dying without
passports.
To know that their armchairs and
vases would exist, to be used by
their great-great-grandchildren.
Once, I sulked that Savta’s wedding dress from
the photograph wasn’t kept for me.
A child, simply misunderstanding
how things were never left behind
out of spite.
I cherish the photographs now –
threadbare sepia moments of
lives I will never truly know.
Sometimes I put on Aunt Polly’s black velvet cape
and feel held through the generations by its warmth.
And I cried when I hung the Mezuzah on the door of
my first home, knowing I could stay
as long as I chose.
---
Galia is a British-Israeli writer, musician and crafter, who works full time as Head of English, media and film at a secondary school in North London. She has lectured at the Shakespeare Institute, the British Library and is on the committee for the London Association for the Teaching of English. Follow her on Twitter @galiamelon
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