To Tova

To Tova Re-Seen (June 16,1988)
I must tell you, Tova
You have again become alive for me -
Not the little girl of 40 years ago
Squeezed in among my own and others
In the children-crowded convertible
Going down to the beach in Tel Aviv
Now the mother of eleven
The grandmother of three!
Time flies!

None of these vital statistics
Make you live for me
Although like separate letters
They do spell out the literal,
But the meaning given to a word
Is the reader's reading
The reader's being.

So when you said,
"Those car rides are
Among my fondest childhood memories
And you always made things fun
And I try, with my eleven, to do it, too.
The You of you has became alive for me
Because the I of I has been alive for you!

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This material is ©1998 by Grace Hollander
3 Keren Haysod st,Ramat Ilan, Givat Shmuel, Israel 51905

Permission to distribute this material, with this notice is granted - with request to notify of use by surface mail
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