Tante Sophie’s Schnapps Glasses

These five small thimbles of 19th century
glass repose in our glazed Charleston-style,
sideboard; both shedding thin tear-trails of age,
because glass truly is a liquid, though
it takes a slightly tilted perspective
to grasp its flow.

Holding a cup to the light, I see
embedded sooty specks — remnants
of the 1890’s when Cossacks sacked
Sophie’s town in the Pale of Settlement —
she escaped, to Syracuse, New York.

To sack and Cossack: first cousins.

Tante Sophie’s glasses emblazon
events in our embraced tribe: births,
weddings, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs.

It took me two days to realize
seven year-old Anna had taken one
to stock her American Girl Doll
kitchen.

MacQueen’s Quinterly #20, 2023