Enough!
Somewhere,
somewhere perhaps
in the desert of Iraq,
or perhaps in Palestine
or the Afghan hills,
amidst the cacophony of shells,
the reek of boiled-off flesh,
somewhere,
a voice awakens,
a voice in Arabic, in English,
a voice that speaks
in every tongue,
that utters
“Enough!
No more!”
a voice of utter empathy
that fills the world
as billions join its cry
“Enough! No more!”
as armies refuse to flay
their fellow flesh,
as workers turn war plants
to temples of revolt,
as rulers tremble
when none obey,
as the Earth
begins to heal.
This poem originally appeared in Critical Sociology 36/5 (2010). It is from Sam Friedman, Grief and Rage: An American Jew’s Poems on Palestine. You can obtain a copy by e-mailing sam4wp@netscape.net.