It took her a while
to reach the phone.
Ja? . . .Hello . . .
Her soft, tremulous voice
made me hesitate:
should I state my message?
I did.

Salem, you said?
Ach, ja . . .such a good cause . . .
but my husband died, you know?
But when he lived,
we always gave . . .ach, ja . . .
to so many good Christian causes.
On New Year’s Day
he’d get the shoebox
and dump it all on the table . . .
all the good Christian causes.
When he wrote the cheques
he always said: *so, now kenne se
weer effe vooruit!” But now . . .
would five dollars be O.K.?
Sir . . .sir . . .are you there?

Quietly I put down the phone.
My voice would have been
more quivery than hers.

*so, now they can go on for a while