Upon the Slaughter

Bialik, Haim Nahman (1873-1934)

“…in 1903, the Kishinev pogroms deeply
shocked the whole civilized world. After interviewing survivors of the
atrocity, Bialik wrote "Al ha- Shehitah" ("On the Slaughter," 1903) in which he calls on heaven either to exercise immediate justice and, if not, to destroy the world, spurning mere vengeance with the famous lines:

Cursed is he who says 'Revenge!'
Vengeance for the blood of a small child 
Satan has not yet created. 

http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/volozhin/vol_pages/volstories_bialik.html


 Upon the Slaughter  Heavenly spheres, beg mercy for me! If truly G-d dwells in your orbit and
round, And in your space is His pathway that I have not found,-- Then you
pray for me! For my own heart is dead; no prayer on my tongue; And
strength has failed, and hope has passed:
O until when? For how much more?

How long? Ho, headsman, bare the neck--come, cleave it through! Nape me
this cur's nape! Yours is the axe unbaffled! The whole wide world-my
scaffold! And rest you easy: we are weak and few. My blood is outlaw.  
Strike, then; the skull dissever! Let blood of babe and graybeard stain
your garb-- Stain to endure forever! If Right there be,--why, let it shine
forth now! For if when I have perished from the earth The Right shine
forth, Then let its Throne be shattered, and laid low! Then let the heavens,
wrong-racked, be no more!  While you, O murderers, on you murder thrive,
Live on your blood, regurgitate this gore! Who cries Revenge! Revenge!  
--accursed be he! Fit vengeance for the spilt blood of a child The devil
has not yet compiled... No, let that blood pierce world's profundity,
Through the great deep pursue its mordications, There east its way in
darkness, there undo, Undo the rotted earth's foundations!

--Haim Nahman Bialik      Translation: T. Carmi

Heart Rate

She gently took my hand

Turning it palm side up

Fingers pointing towards her

gently laying a finger on my inner wrist

Thumb supporting my hand

Looking at the clock on the wall

“can you hold still?”

“I thought I was.”

“wait.”

She turned my hand sideways

Thumb up

Palm facing her body

there securely positioned

my palm against the curve of her breast

she stroked my inner wrist with her finger

she gently placed her finger just so,

and began to watch the clock

while I began to watch my hand

“do you feel ok?”

“your heart is racing”

“No shit”

To find out if I am alive

To find out if I am alive the medicos have put me through my annual set of tasks

I have completed echo cardiograms, and chemical stress tests,

pulmonary function test, jiggle test,

chest CT-scan, abdominal CT scans,

extensive lab work for my diabetes

and someone even looked at my toes.

No salt, no sugar, no carbs and no fats

That is my new mantra

tree bark is good

and sand

quit smoking

                I did this already and it seriously complicates the diet of no food!!!

stay out of the sun

stay out of the rain

stay out of the wind

(write a song)

stay away from crowds

movies, restaurants, and parks,

parties, meetings, students

from cats , and birds

            fortunately not together often enough

to cause me problems

stop rolling over and asking me,

with your eyes

to rub your stomach       please !!!

           (unless you are not a cat, then please continue)

from children who might be sick (all)

from adults who might be sick (many)

from republicans (damn that is 90% of Texas)

start walking

           well I walked two miles this morning

looking for my reading glasses

I never left the house

and neither had the glasses