Barbara Lydecker Crane

A Turn of Events

They’re long gone, those residents     
of the Jewish Quarter, Budapest,       
lying low in World War II
until they fled or lost their lives.
All through the Soviet regime,
abandoned homes were left to rack
and ruin. Two generations passed;
now some enjoy an afterlife—

the “ruin bars,” hip nightlife
for young Hungarians. The blast
of rock music bounces back
from crumbling stucco walls. The gleam
of colored lights enlivens the dives’ 
decrepitude. Would an old Jew,
returning, run? Or join the rest,
accept some beers as recompense?

Prize-winning poet Barbara Lydecker Crane’s fourth collection, You Will Remember Me, sonnets about portrait paintings in the imagined voices of artists through the centuries, will be published by Able Muse Press.