Every year
with spring weather imminent
the scent of maror returns.

I could tell a story about Pesach,
how it returns again and again,
Jews admonished to never forget.

But for me Passover is Seder
and Seder is maror
and maror is not the bitterness of slavery

But the memory of our last
15th of Nisan together
and the heaviness of my heart.

Each year
I crush horseradish
and breathe you in again.

Glossary:
Zayde (Yiddish) – grandfather

Pesach (Yiddish/Hebrew) – Passover

maror (Hebrew) – bitter herbs eaten at the Passover Seder in keeping with the Torah commandment “with bitter herbs they shall eat it.” Frequently horseradish or romaine lettuce.

Nisan (Hebrew) – first month of Jewish ecclesiastical year and seventh of the Hebrew civil calendar. Passover takes place 15-21 of Nisan.