Enough!

Somewhere,

somewhere perhaps

in the desert of Iraq,

or perhaps in Palestine

or the Afghan hills,

amidst the cacophony of shells,

the reek of boiled-off flesh,

somewhere,

a voice awakens,

a voice in Arabic, in English, 

a voice that speaks

in every tongue,

that utters 

“Enough!

No more!”

a voice of utter empathy

that fills the world

as billions join its cry

“Enough! No more!”

as armies refuse to flay

their fellow flesh,

as workers turn war plants

to temples of revolt,

as rulers tremble

when none obey,

as the Earth

begins to heal.

 

Critical Sociology 36/5 (Sept 2010), p. 690. Grief and Rage: An American Jew’s Poems on Palestine. Central Jersey Coalition against Endless War. 2015.