A Poem for Today

Avinu Shebashamayim
I know you're not up there
But the sky has no borders.
So I look upward.
Seeking your oneness.
Seeking your intervention.

But you aren't the solution.
You are the question.
We, your answer.
Your agent in repairing
shattered, holy vessels.
And lands.

But today, we failed.
Our hubris injured thousands.
Our arrogance murdered tens.

A war scene a stone's throw
From the celebration
Of a President's name on Jerusalem stone.
The human cost of campaign promises,
And myopic leadership
And Birthright.
Our pride leaving more of your
broken vessels
in our wake.

Avinu Shebashamayim
Barech et eretz yisrael.
Bless the land of Israel.
Barech et eretz falastin.
Bless the land of Palestine.
Barech et whatever-you-call-it.
With peace.

Oseh Shalom Bimromav,
May the one who makes peace in the high heavens
Hu Ya'aseh Shalom Aleinu,
Make peace for us
v'al Yisrael, v'al kol yoshvei teivel,
For all Israel, and for all who inhabit the earth.

But truthfully
making peace isn't
God's responsibility.
It's ours.

V'imru: Amen.