Adult Education

Out of a middle-age effort
To appease my childhood ghosts,
I took an adult education class in Yiddish.

There were two of us in the class
Plus elderly Mr. W., the teacher.
By the third week,
When we had learned our alef-beis
And how to say our names,
Mr. W. announced that it was time
For us to experience the beauty
Of the language he was teaching;
Then he started to read to the class
His poetry in Yiddish.
He was a prolific poet
Who didn't mind
Having no response
To his poems
From his puzzled students.

At the end of the class
He told us that he hoped
We wouldn't cancel because
His meagre fee kept him from starving.

Childhood ghosts
Don't appease lightly.