Sun Kissed Days

Sun Kissed Days

Sunday, December 29, 2019

Juden


Tolerance,
compassion,
inclusion. 
Don't be fooled
by the words uttered,
by the words articulated.
We are slaughtered in the streets,
blood stains on the pavements,
in the synagogues,
in our neighborhoods. 
Tolerance,
compassion,
inclusion,
don't be fooled by the chatter.
Hatred is sprouting,
growing,
flowing,
igniting like wildfire.
My father threatened to sit shiva
when I left.
I made him into Tevye. 
Grandma warned me
that one day my love 
would call me a dirty Jew.
She said it would come on a day
when life was grey,
and hard words are exchanged.
Words that wound.
Words that leave scars.
My father was a boy,
with hazel eyes
and black wavy hair.
He laid on the ground and drank
from puddles,
while frogs watched him 
and rifles were pointing close by.
He was just a boy...
I made him into Tevye .
I wore a cross in my heart,
he looked away.
He did not sit Shiva when I left.
He did not rip his clothes in mourning.
Instead, he just loved me. 
Memory resided on his skin,
in his eyes,
in his voice.
It was handed down in my veins,
in my blood.
In dreams that I dreamt
as a child.
I am bathing in the breath
of all that was
and all that remains.
Amid all the noise,
I stand,
a yellow star on my chest.


46 comments:

  1. Beautiful! You know I think we love today in terrible times with many hate. I cant understand hate. I have friends of all races and religions. So always Im suffering when this things happens. Send you love and hugs!!

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  2. I wana say : We live terrible times with many hate.

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  3. The pain goes deep. It is unbelievable to me that this cancer on the human soul is still going on, that we have learned nothing. That we have not evolved into who humans are meant to be - beings of love. Stand strong and proud, Ayala. The line I love best: "Instead, he just loved me." This would be the Poem of the Week if I were still doing that. Such poems stretch hearts and increase compassion for our fellow humans.

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    1. Thanks you! I think it's my favorite line as well. Once I wrote the words it sank in, the truth of it...he just loved me.

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  4. So many old stupidities rising like zombies from a grave at this time. It's enraging and heartbreaking.

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  5. Love:

    “My father was a boy,
    with hazel eyes
    and black wavy hair.
    He laid on the ground and drank
    from puddles”

    “Instead, he just loved me”

    “Amid all the noise,
    I stand,
    a yellow star on my chest.”

    I had two daddies. I will wear every color of star. This is beautiful.

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  6. Wow. Powerful words. Well written. Thanks for sharing.

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  7. Beautifully moving and powerful!

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  8. You speak from a voice of knowledge. It is so sad what is going on in the world.

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  9. Very powerful, Ayala. It reads like a Psalm with a very hard edge. A much needed exhortation these days.

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  10. Nice lines: "He did not rip his clothes in mourning.
    Instead, he just loved me."

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  11. Your poem touched me very deeply, especially the lines:
    'I am bathing in the breath
    of all that was
    and all that remains.
    Amid all the noise,
    I stand,
    a yellow star on my chest.'

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  12. A powerful poem. What is it that spawns hate in the hearts of men, I forever wonder.

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  13. Heart-rending poem...I just finished reading, We Were the Lucky Ones, about a Jewish family scattered during WWII and the atrocities of hate unleashed. Have we forgotten?

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  14. I'm not sure what to say except: Wow. Powerful!

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  15. I cannot really understand why the hate is on the rise again... it seems like there is always people finding a reason to grow while hating others.

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  16. People seem to grasp onto hate a lot these days.

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  17. Heart wrenching but beautifully written Ayala.

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  18. Beautiful. Thanks. I hope you and yours are safe.

    Greetings from London.

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  19. Your major opus. I hope to read this every year.

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