Evil rises from the cesspool of
man’s inhumanity to man,
people say Never Again.

But Never comes again
with the crash of shattering glass,
the silent hiss of poisoned gas chambers,
people say Never Again.

Never comes again, as Evil 
creeps across the border and
falls silently from the sky,
people are rendered speechless.

Let the People of Israel say

We have seen the face of Evil and know its name
but we will not create ourselves in its image.

We will never stop planting fruit trees in the desert,
nor cease searching in broken and shattered places
for lost sparks of holiness.

We will go up from our shiva houses singing songs of hope.
We will choose life so that we and our children shall live.

Am Israel Chai


©2023marthahurwitz