Whether we are on the same side or the other, by choice or by trauma, by barrier or boundary, by circumstance, by ancestry, we, as one in humanity, long for the moment to see each other. To see each other again or maybe for the first time.
This poem asks hard questions in the midst of shared and ongoing trauma, a time when seemingly we find no resolution, only pain. It was written after the October 7 terror attack and kidnappings in Israel, the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. The poem is a call to our loved ones and a call to each other. Please see me! See my pain and I will see yours. Can we do this for each other? Can we do this for the other?
The poem was read together in a community program in February, 2024 with the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, Cleveland Public Library, and Facing History and Ourselves.
A Poem for the Moment
Can I see the missing
The ones taken away
Hidden, stolen, gone
Can I face this suspended moment? Will we see each other again
Will we meet for the first time
I am yours and you are mine
Can we dance another 3000 years
Are you on the other side
Of the wall? Of the world
Are we whole or are we broken
Can we sit together
Or, in this suspended moment
do I
do you,
sit alone
Link to article.
