“I’m in a movie theater
A white screen-
And so begins
with violins
a Coney Island
dream

The scene is after war
With love in reach –
Trailing shots of
Busy city spots –
Than:
Brooklyn at the
beach

The salt breeze,
The sand, the foam
The waves,
and boardwalk babes
who
tan alone

On the boardwalk:
Fun house mirrors,
Barkers, Drifter shtarkers,
cruising queers –

Everyone is hiding
in the open air.
the cops only make stops
to feel the wind in their hair.

There is a couple
walking, starry-eyed
Brooklyn drifters, romance grifters,
Side by side

The camera zooms in –
He’s close, and whispers discretely,
She’s flattered,
the camera pulls back,
seagulls are scattered,
and she smiles
sweetly

I cringe and sink
Into my seat-
I know these two,
a Bensonhurst and a
Brownsville Jew,

Mad from the heat
I stand and
Yell at the screen
“lady, flee the seduction of the sea –
he’s nothing like he
seems

“This will have a
Sorry end,
with miseries endless
A lonely child , lost and wild –
And completely friendless-”

“what is this,
the room is
cold
this was foretold
I am death
I am the shadow on your wall
I am that which comes all days
before the fall

oi, death, oi, death
oi, death, oi death

lead us out of Eastern Europe,
just like Moses
lead us out before the camp gate
slams and closes
because even after war,
the Polish mobs
are at your door –

oi, death, oi, death
oi, death, oi death

Jews have died,
but only one was crucified

oi, death, oi, death
oi, death, oi death

I am death,
I will see that your
widow cries –
Let your children watch you die
before your eyes,
stop your heart before you can
say your goodbyes –

oi, death, oi, death
oi, death, oi death

my gullet seizes,
breath turns cold,
my bones are brittle
come here mother,
take a towel,
and wipe my
spittle.

Ich ver alt ich ver alt
und der pupik wird mir kalt
ich ver alt
und der pupik wird mire kalt

oi death oi death
oi death oi death

mark my gravestone
with these words,
to see me through:
“look, here lies,
among the flies, another
Jew”

and kick some dirt and
run from this whole
graveside scene,
‘cause only goyim worry that
their grave’s kept
clean

oi death oi death
oi death oi death”