by Judy Katz-Levine
and though I am a Jew, and am sure I am hated,
in Gaza, I see the image of a Palestinian child wounded, with limbs
scarred or torn,and know its wrong
the war machines churn, and though I pray
for peace in Israel, and know the rockets spew forth
from an underground resistance, and I know nothing
of the suffering of the Palestinians, only
from where we come, from what horrors we come from
we should not create horror, the prophet Micah said
"walk humbly with your G-d" but this is an arrogance
built on arrogance upon arrogance, that cannot
be understood by this Jew who hears a Gypsy violin
wailing, "NO, No, this is a rage that creates more pain
than one can understand"
Judy Katz-Levine's most recent book is Ocarina. Her poems have appeared in The Delinquent, The Sun, Salamander, 96 Inc., and many other magazines and anthologies.
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