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Archiver > AUSTRIA > 2002-05 > 1021812284


From: "Tilman Brandl" <>
Subject: Re: [AUSTRIA-L] Wenn ich ein Voglein war: my mother's response
Date: Sun, 19 May 2002 14:44:44 +0200
References: <B9088068.4C1%yaa@gwi.net>


Hi Judy,

thank you so much for sharing this with us. As you may imagine I've
been deeply moved. When I first saw your request for that song I
didn't have the slightest idea of course about what it might have
meant to your mother ore anybody else in the past. Congratulations to
you for a mum with still that much love in her heart after all she has
gone through.

Kind regards

Tilman

----- Original Message -----
From: "Judy Faust" <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2002 3:15 AM
Subject: [AUSTRIA-L] Wenn ich ein Voglein war: my mother's response


> Dear Listers,
> Thank you so much for your help in locating and hearing the old
song, Wenn
> ich ein Voglein war. I thought you might like to read what my
mother's
> reaction was. This too, will go in my book about her. I did not
include the
> poem I wrote. It is too long, and I thought you would be more
interested in
> the rest of it. Thanks again.
>
> Judy Faust
> Maine
>
>
>
> The Mother¹s Day Gift, 5/14/02
>
> The Friday before Mother¹s Day I chose a card for my mother. I
bought it at
> an art supply store. It had paintings by three different artists on
it of a
> woman looking in a mirror. I had to write something to go with it. I
had ten
> minutes before I had to bolt into my car and run to work. No
problem, I
> thought, rolling my eyes at the ceiling. If I waited until my next
free
> moment the card wouldn¹t get to Florida in time. So I began. The
poem leaped
> out of me as if it was already in my heart waiting to be written.
>
>
> The present to go with the card was already on my desk on top of
the
> addressed envelope. It was a tape of Wenn ich ein Voglein war, the
song that
> Papa sang to my mother whenever he had to say good-bye to her. It
was the
> last time my mother saw him. He softly sang it to her even then.
They stood
> on the Vienna platform, hoping against the odds that she would send
him
> money, a ship ticket, somehow be able to save him from the Nazis.
> Mom mentioned the song a few times. I decided to see if I could
hear it.
> Would I recognize it? When I found it on the internet, I listened
and
> listened. It was a distant memory. Yes, there was a familiarity
about it.
> More of a feeling than a mental memory. I made a tape of several
versions of
> it.
> I would have liked to be there when she heard it but that could
not be.
> I tucked it into the envelope, mailed it and went to work. A few
days later
> there was a message on our answering machine from my tearful mother.
Later
> in the evening I called her back.
> ³Oh, Judy! Your poem was so beautiful! You couldn¹t make a
mother
> happier! I am so touched! But then the tape, that song...I cannot
tell you
> what that did to me! It stirred up something very deep inside of me.
I have
> never felt such an emotion. So much love, I could not handle it. I
cried and
> cried!²
> ³Gee, I¹m sorry! I didn¹t want to make you cry!²
> ³No, no.² She laughed, and she sounded like she was choking on
more
> tears. ³It was a good cry. A very long awaited cry. They were tears
of
> happiness. Tears of joy. It was a good cry.²
> Maybe it was a good thing I wasn¹t there when she listened to
it. Those
> are moments one cannot share with anyone else. Those are moments one
can
> only share with God.
> The doll and the song had rejoined my mother. She was healing.
> But what about Julius Duhl, my grandfather, the father who was
murdered and
> died of a broken heart in a mass grave in Maly Trostinets in 1942?
What
> about Judy, reincarnated as the daughter?
> My turn was coming.


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