The poems in this post are part of a special section, curated by Ori Z Soltes and Robert Bettmann, The Jewish Experience.

No words
By Bruce Black

You want a poem this morning
to soothe the ache in your heart,
the grief you feel after learning about
Hersh’s death and the five other hostages
murdered in the Gaza tunnels hours before
their bodies were found by the IDF?

Here’s the poem then, but don’t expect
it to soothe the ache in your heart.
No words can bring Hersh or the others
back to life. No prayers helped keep
them alive. So let yourself weep, and
listen to the words of Hersh’s mother
still filled with hope for the future
even as she lamented her loss
at his funeral yesterday.

Take courage from her example,
and remember there are still good
people in the world. Find a way to
keep hoping so hope can spread
and from hope, perhaps, one day
your dream of peace will come true.

—

There are no flowers left in Gaza
By Bruce Black

There are no flowers left in Gaza
no trees, nothing green except for the sea,
a turquoise blue reflecting the sky.

I used to think the same color blue
was inside my heart, its waves of peace
caressing my soul.

If only I could feel at peace again,
could see the color blue
when I gaze toward the sea.

If only I could see the flowers,
the trees, some tiny speck of green,
some sign of life.

But my eyes are covered with
the dust of the earth
shut tight against

the sight of all the rubble,
the broken glass,
the shattered hearts,

unable to see anything
besides the pain of both
sides of this war

Palestinians and Israelis
feeling the same pain, weeping
over what each has lost.

Here we are, each of us
living on the edge of the most
beautiful sea in the world,

the most beautiful blue,
and no one can see it anymore
no one can feel the peace it brings,

no one can hear the waves
still washing up on shore
still whispering—

I am at peace,
I am peace—
only no one can hear.

—

Bruce Black is editorial director of The Jewish Writing Project. His poetry and personal essays have appeared in numerous publications, including Write-Haus, Soul-Lit, The BeZine, Bearings, Super Poetry Highway, Poetica, Lehrhaus, Atherton Review, Elephant Journal, Tiferet, Hevria,Jewthink, The Jewish Literary Journal, The Reform Jewish Quarterly, Mindbodygreen, and Chicken Soup for the Soul. He lives in Highland Park,IL.

Featured image in this post: Mandelblüte (Prunus dulcis) im Landschaftsdschutzgebiet Hockenheimer Rheinbogen, creative commons via wikipedia commons.