I wish I could remember
Ariel and Sarah,
holding hands and smiling
as they danced the hora,
at their children’s wedding.
I wish I could remember
the happy bride and groom,
their arms outstretched,
two silver birches
dancing in the wind.
What do I recall?
Ariel pouring red wine
on Sarah’s white lace dress,
Sarah smooshing ice cream
in Ariel’s powdered face.
What do I recall?
Joseph punching Isaac
for cheating him
in business
thirty years ago.
By the time the hora ended,
everyone was fighting,
the band had fled the party,
the wedding cake was flattened.
None of us is speaking,
the children are divorcing,
until we dance the hora
at another family wedding.
published in Sad Goose, republished on Medium
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