From Jerusalem to Gaza: Tishah B’Av 5785

Cauldron of
despair
amid destruction
horizons of rubble
broken bodies
summer heat
dissolving
every sign of
famished life.

From past
to present
as we read
the ancient sacred book
our screens
deliver lamentations
day after devastating day
in Gaza.

How did it come to this?
fury roaring through
inconsolable grief
raging
revenge
for the twelve hundred
massacred
in a single day
the two hundred and fifty-one
wrenched away
for depraved atrocities
and sexual violence.

When
and how
will the horror end?
history
(Jewish and Palestinian)
has its answers:
defeat
of the crushed people
exile.

How shall we answer?
the present
calls all those who
choose life
pursue justice
seek peace
to resist
history’s
oppressive inevitabilities
salvage
hope
from the wreckage
and fashion
together
a different future.