The Assimilation

It's coming along, the assimilation;

Granted, in certain parts of Kansas,

In Mississippi, the pace is slow,

And nowhere exactly what you would call

A rush on skull caps, circumcision . . .

But take my colleague Wayne O'Neil:

On the phone about some committee mess

He calls it (three times!) "this mishegas!"

-And the Jews on t.v. are charmers now,

Heroes, played by Swedes, Italians . . .

So maybe, say in ten thousand years,

Even the grim ones will start to join us?

(We who take jokes as a serious business) -

Discoursing Talmud, shrugging shoulders,

Clapping, dancing, teasing in accents?