Ashes

Born a New York City boy
in nineteen fifty two
raised on tales of holocaust
we thought that time was through

Raised to see all humankind
as if we all were kin
the content of their character
not the color of their skin

Make love not war is what we cried
in response to that invasion
we united with each other
irrespective of persuasion

Rejecting segregation
down with old Jim Crow
cut that cancer from our flesh
let the light of freedom glow

I sensed that something was amiss
in the decades that soon followed
a whisper, then a louder voice
curses shouted from the ghetto

Resentment also from the right
you liberals are our foes
we know who is leading this
that guy there with the nose

Once respected institutions
such as the United Nations
controlled by those who hate such things
as the Jews and their puny nation

And on and on until today
are elected to the Congress
AOC, the Squad, and all that ilk
who all have it in for us

Now when Jews are raped and burned alive
children kidnapped and beheaded
we are condemned for fighting back
and the evil is defended

Empty words of peace on earth
are spouted by their isms
their cries for balance and restraint
their vaunted catachisms

As long as Jews are dying
that means we know our place
they’ll move aside a little bit
and then spit in our face

Less than eighty years is all it took
to turn the hate clock back
from the Nazis to the Commies
to Hamas, Iran, Iraq

The hopes that I was raised with
the dreams of which I wrote
lay in the ashes of Be’eri
Re’im, Sufa, Netivot

So do not speak to me of aid for them
and call it humanitarian
till it’s your kin who’ve been butchered
by your poor oppressed barbarian