HERMANAS
Veiled by intricate rose flowered scrolls
Spanish eyes fixate on
the aristocratic woman seated near her
Peering from her white crocheted lace
her captivating eyes smile and
acknowledge the stranger in the black mantilla
Reading from their prayerbooks in English and Hebrew
two pairs of Ladino ancestral eyes
share the mutual mitzvah of one half a millenial hiatus
Leaving the Shabbat service
one pair of flawless exquisite Spanish laced hearts
beats in harmony to subliminal sensations of kinship
Written for Schulamith C. Halevy
E-mail: Rufina Bernardetti Silva Mausenbaum