"For the Children of Ga'za" (Steve Lieberman--1/18/2009)
ROCKETS FIRED on our homeland from
terrorists
Our brothers just
don’t want us to exist
Rockets
aimed at Israel from the Gaza
Strip
For our own survival-we
must resist
Staged an offensive
to save our land
But blameless
people died with the terrorist
man
Our missiles killed so many
innocent
I mourn for you all, my
soul is rent.
CHILDREN OF THE
GAZA, WE BEWAIL YOU
TRAGEDIES OF
A HATRED SO OLD
WE PRAY FOR OUR
PEOPLES’ PEACE FOR 4,000
YEARS
BUT AN ANCIENT GRUDGE JUST
CAN’T BE LULLED
called a Cease
fire-we stopped the raid
To let
in humanitarian aid
To help the
innocent-but peace always
fades
When war is rooted in
ancient hate
We know just how
it feels to lose our babies in
war
They gassed them, and shot
them and flogged them
raw
Innocent people tortured as
the governments all saw
The
deafening slam of the death camp
door
Last week, in Europe, they
firebombed the homes of the
Jews
Retaliation for something
they didn’t do
I guess racism
survived long after World War
II
Gaza-once a principality of
the Philistines
They stole our
Ark, oppressed us, and treated us
mean
Until King David quelled
them with his siege
machines
We’ve got the same
father, we both agree.
We pray
for de-escalation
The miracle of
peace for our two nations
Serving
One G-d in jubilation
Til then
from the Diaspora I shout out
lamentations
