Three Berenberg Sisters

My mother, Naomi Berenberg Leavitt, mailed me a copy of this poem written by her cousin Carla*, and a photo of the three sisters, my great-aunts, all of whom were born with the name Berenberg.—JDL

LENA

IS

STILL

DANCING

That three sisters

indestructible

would look good together,

their memories loosed

by Aunt Gretchen's false teeth.

(plates clacking together)

by chopped liver

and Manischevitz.

was as unexpected

as the rush of love

we felt

in the recognition

of their frailty and strength.

Three octogenarians!

that in itself

made us want

to acknowledge them

as their competitive

memories

rattled the ghost of their mother.

''She was difficult,"

said difficult Aunt Clara,

"She was arrogant,"

said Gretchen, the proud.

"She could never admit

being wrong," said Elschen

my infallible mother.

My daughters and I

exchanged a forgiving

smile and said hello

to that woman, Lena Theodore

Still dancing in our blood.

[*Carla Theodore is the daughter of Elsa Berenberg Meyerson and granddaughter of Lena Theodore Berenberg]