Paternal grandmother's headstone - Beth David, Elmont, Long Island

Shaindel (Sadie), variant of Shana Harris

died May 13th, 1959 exquisitely chiseled

alphanumeric characters legibly engraved

sepulchral casket entombing lovely bones

deoxyribonucleic acid repurposed into me

Matthew Scott Harris patronymic protector,

when I die taking family surname to netherland

who unwittingly named his youngest daughter

after his recently deceased father's mother.

Mortality encompasses subsequent cremation

never mind death of yours truly unbeknownst

mine soul will migrate towards deceased kith

kindred folks only known courtesy genealogy

descendents called Eastern Europe homeland

upon landing at Ellis Island émigrés hugged

immigration officials and illegibly scribbled

unpronounceable/ unreadable birth names

subsequently adopting common shorthand.

Chromosomes reconstituted genetic material

gifted from forebears ecstatic immigrants apt

to be regaled by relatives hustling newcomers

into fast paced frenzy, the latter gesticulating

at cityscape marveling over hubbub jabbering

babble synchronized in tandem with hawkers

and vendors selling, peddling comestibles,

gewgaws, papers, et cetera predating buyer

beware analogous to innocents abroad say

by George an American in Paris humming

Rhapsody in Blue.

Agog regarding novel sights never seen within

father/mother land, viz supposed New World

blitzkrieg eventually quieted, relegated, shelved...

analogous by Dickens perusing tchotchkes

commonly found within olde curiosity shop,

yet no matter acclimatization arose espying

eye opening merchandise, the dirt poor status

regarding bloodlines a couple generations ago

immediate deterrent experienced by Aaron

Harris (papa's father) as a boy, who provided

for his family, their hardscrabble existence

only somewhat alleviated thru hook and crook.

Please pardon poetic license usurped,
especially slight exaggeration of penury

promulgated concerning up by bootstraps

scenario evinced by paternal grandfather
after he attained and emerged out boyhood,
though destitution imprinted thru his infancy
until growing up hardened qua hard school

of knocks limiting him to eighth grade education.