Adoption

niño
parents teacher rabbi
bilingüe
I turn a page
parientes
ask que sucedrá
el va a leer la Tora
his golden hand grips
el yad de plata
india ink swims in parchment



they wonder
amigo que no conocemos
responded to a post
para traductor en su templo
faulty spanish
no falta corazón
the child his parents
ticotora judiotico
love needs no dictionary
orgullo sin traducción



In a day my own
judiolatinos chapin-ebraos
lisp letters off twisted tongues
einam y'cholim they can't
no pueden
erase the retroflex
from the awrrrr to form a resh
the distant errrrr-re
no closer than the hebrew
twisting sinuous across these
pages I translate
en la memoria