Christmas in New York/the baby's here and we are looking out nto a new horizon

• We reach for the pills,they are in a glass bowl on the stove/a bug is imprinted in cut glass on the bottom. You take five and I take five/they're low-grade so we will just sleep more soundly/probably just hear the phone ring in the parlor. We haven't gone to this extent ever/breakfast dishes still in the sink/we seem to be out of hope/a great fear hounds us/we've run this course before/the account reads .00 and the children are all on their feet/we are in every one's way/our language has been reduced to drivel. When the end of O'Bama's term we will have crossed over/we want to let go/but Melisa is having a baby in the Spring and our eighth grandchild is on its' way/we will be there with bells on and a song in our hearts/then we'll see.

HOW LONG DO WE HAVE TO WAIT for Christmas

This semester has been complicated by our traveling in space/It tries our nerves to succumb to the rigors of the twenty-first/damn we have been to the other side of reality once too often/the grandchildren have checked in/Nathan especially takes care of us. His sweet nature exhibits the best of both his parents. We kiss our girl Indiana Capri and she knows exactly who we are/Ahdy shyly looks back at us and pretends that he is a new kid on the block/this princess Siena knows when we need attention/she calls with loving concern/Tomorrow is Elizabeth Rose's birthday/she has almost found herself/and she is not ten yet/Our darling Gabrielle e-mails in the knick of time,"Call me, I need to touch base."In Borough Park a miracle baby is born,our Ariella Isabel/she is a young warrior/she has the baton/and knows the dove's language/the poems/the songs/we will carry her to Mecca/wrapped in a Palestinian scarf/her Jewish core can stop a million year war. I love the life/the street/the fight/the grand granjetes'But don't believe that this huge trial I've been in/there are no answers/no judgements/