Feb 20, 2019
A poem by Elsa Fischer
‘As you set out …’ in memory of Ursula S
Within a week your sons emptied your apartment, removed the Giacometti.
A daughter-in-law cancelled your Tuesdays at the hairdresser’s.
I copied out the Cavafy we’d hotly discussed in our coterie, the poem urging us to keep Ithaca always in our minds.
You quoted his line back at me, in the refectory, where the ladies show off bejewelled hands.
You were not ostentatious in that way but always seemed to be on a mission
of importance, your thoughts raised high, your crutch a staff of office.
Elsa Fischer
