In Memory of murdered Bibas family members and my Father’s first wife and son

In Memory

 of the murdered Bibas family members

and my Father’s first wife and son: Sigmond Shore, wife Hela and son Zev

As Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas

Were laid to rest; and we and the world watched,

Every human being of good will mourned;

I could not but think of my dear late father,

When he came home after the Holocaust,

Having fought the Nazis with the partisans,

To find his wife, Hela, and his son of seven, Zev,

Murdered simply due to inculcated hatred.

They, together, with two hundred members

Of my Father’s family became sacrifices

On the alter of erased conscience.

I thought of the youngest children of Gaza

Who had not as yet been taught how to hate.

What then can be done that they never do?

For the children of Gaza and of the world,

Then to hold hands, in an awakened conscience.