from Lost

I didn't need a ticket to get into the services;
I was a survivor, entitled to special treatment.

I stood for the Kaddish,
Yisgadal, v'yis Kaddash...
I prayed for those like my husband who had died
in the past year.

I prayed for those who had died a few days agol.
I prayed for us all.
And for me.

That was Friday.
on Sunday, I waited on Pier 40
while another son, chosen because he did Yoga
and was, we thought, in better shape,
climbed the 19 flights of stairs to my apartment
to retrieve what he could.
Accompanied by a national guardsman,
he had fifteen minutes to go up and down.
I wanted my granmother's candlesticks
brought from Europe,
a picture of my husband,
manuscripts,
a fifty dollars on the kitchen table.

-- Edith Chevat