The Year of the Jew

Dedicated to May Naim & Lotan - May their memory be a blessing

It began with shock, horror and disbelief

They came as if thieves in the night

To steal our very souls to snuff out our flame

Slow motion enveloped our existence

Every minute, every hour, took forever

The heart cannot bear what the eyes have seen

What the senses have endured

‘Tis the stench that hits hardest

Sticks in your craw

That day, never ending

It goes on and on and on

There can be no resolve

Without the missing, we call out

It is a part of us all!

Then came expectation

Naïve though it was

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The oldest of all, now awakened

Embraced by them all

A sickening appreciation

That nothing has changed

How foolish were we

To think otherwise

Time passes, we comprehend

What was, will no longer be

Yet, what was, has always been

And here we are, we go on

The new norm is the oldest we know

Familiar in so many ways

Different, but so, so the same

After all, what’s in a label, what’s in a name

Amplified on the ether

It gathers a pace

The message albeit tainted, goes farther

Faceless, like a virus it spreads

Where once it would hide

Only whispered in polite company

It now shines like a beacon, and screams

Attracting the useful, the none too bright

And those waiting for just this moment

Time drags on

Yet time stands still

One whole year later

There was no way of knowing

Perhaps we have always known

We just chose to forget

That winter always comes

And we must brave the weather

It began with a storm, that storm rages still

The journey forward is long, but it is ours

With a much clearer view

Of the year of the Jew