The Right to Kill

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: MASS SHOOTINGS

The Right to Kill

 

What is it with all these madmen?

Does it give them a twisted thrill?

The right to arms has now become

A sordid right to kill

 

They do not care what others think

The world belongs to them

We never asked them what they thought

Who are we to condemn?

 

They kill because they have the right

They kill because they can

They kill because they fear the night

Will no one understand?

 

There are more of them each day

They are arming to the hilt

If you ask them why they will proclaim

They have the right to kill

 

I did not give them weapons

I will not share the blame

But when he pulls the trigger

He does it in our name

The Creature of the Deep

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Creature of the Deep

 

There is a creature that dwells in sleep

With tentacles long and many

As many as are necessary

In the moment of deep, deep sleep

Its tentacle reach out in all directions

Taking hold of every sleeping soul

In that instant we are all connected

Each of us knows what every other thinks

Each of us feels what every other feels

Each of us understands we are one

 

The Israeli feels what the Palestinian feels

The Russian sees what the Ukrainian sees

The Islamist understands the Hindi

The Christian understands the Buddhist

The deist understands the atheist

The saint understands the bigot

Each of us understands the other

 

When we are in that deep cave of sleep

We are naked and everywhere

When we climb out of that deep cave

We clothe ourselves with prejudice

We clothe ourselves with bigotry and hate

We don the cloth of closed minds

That we may thrive among our people

 

Yet at moments of silent clarity

When all is quiet in the soul

We remember the creature of the deep

We remember that instant of knowing

We remember that we are one with all

And all are one within

Self Determination

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL-PALESTINE

Self Determination

 

Every people and every nation

  Including Palestine and Israel

According to the laws of civilization

  From Ukraine to Afghanistan

Has a right to self determination

 

When that right is denied

  In Iraq or in Sudan

All authority will be defied

  In Vietnam or in Myanmar

Human rights must be applied

 

Every people and every nation

  From the Aborigines to the Kurds

Beyond the rights of invocation

  Including Chechens and Armenians

Has a right to self determination

 

A world that does not uphold

The right to self determination

Will never live in peace

Will never find salvation

Plight of the Dispossessed

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL & PALESTINE

Plight of the Dispossessed

 

As we enter the days of propaganda

That accompany every war

Remember the plight of the dispossessed

Like the Israelis were before

 

The people are very much the same

No matter where they are

They only want to live in peace

Though they pray to a different star

 

There once was a land called Palestine

That was supplanted by Israel

If you want to know the whole truth

Ah the stories they could tell

 

Of an enemy that has no mercy

That kills the innocent without regret

They would testify their suffering

And the river of blood they let

 

The Israelis have their own accounts

Of being killed and moved aside

They bear witness to an evil

That gave birth to genocide

 

Israel and Ukraine

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Israel and Ukraine

 

Now that Israel is on the news

Every day and every night

Will we forget about Ukraine?

Will we forget about their plight?

 

Ain’t that just like the western world?

We cannot keep two thoughts

If we think about what we’re doing

We cannot think about what we’re not

 

But the fate of these two nations

Are linked as never before

If we do not hold the line

They’ll come bashing through the door

 

Ukraine will fight until the end

That much we certainly know

The state of Israel will not bend

Her fears will never show

 

And we must stand with both of them

We cannot waver, must not fail

Until the aggressor nations suffer

And the perpetrators are in jail

 

Human

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

Human

 

Are we not human?

Do we not bleed?

In the name of humanity

Have mercy we plead

 

It is a time of grave danger

The cry of vengeance is loudest

Near the heart of deep sorrow

And the sorrow builds

Sorrow upon sorrow

Until it is changed to burning rage

And the tears of sorrow

Become tears of pain

And the end of pain is vengeance

 

A child of Palestine

Is a child of the earth

If you possess a heart

You acknowledge his worth

 

But vengeance is a forever thirst

The more you drink

The more thirst you feel

It can never be satiated

It grows and grows in leaps and bounds

It ravages all whom it entices

It replaces the heart with a blackened thing

That poisons all it touches

 

Hold on to Humanity

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL

Hold on to Humanity

 

As our pain becomes unbearable

As we brace ourselves for what’s in store

A word of caution to all involved

Do not become what you abhor

 

We are proud of our civility

We must hold on to our human core

But while we suffer and we mourn

Do not become what you abhor

 

A thousand ways to hate and kill

All saints of mercy we implore

Let others do what others will

Do not become what you abhor

 

Hang on to human dignity

Do not be tempted to that door

We must retain our basic values

Do not become what you abhor

 

All is fair in love and war

We’ve heard it many times before

But we must never be those people

Do not become what you abhor

Hamas

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL

Hamas

 

You attack women and children

Old men on their pensions

Young people at dances

You commit unspeakable crimes

Against nature and humanity

You kill without care as if those

You kill understand your rage

As if your victims deserve your wrath

 

You know well what follows

You expect and even welcome it

You bring this upon your own people

With eyes wide open, hearts closed

With wicked smiles of sarcasm

When the Gaza underground

Is reduced to stone and blood

When your people plead for mercy

When your mothers cry and your

Fathers break down in mourning

Will you still wear that crooked smile?

That knowing smile of horror

Will the blood of Israelis still comfort you?

Will you still taunt your enemy?

Will you still beg for more?

 

Hamas is no longer a cause or party

It is an instrument of terror

By dehumanizing your enemy

You have dehumanized yourselves

The Promise

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Promise

 

You have given your solemn promise

Before your god and before the world

That you will do all in your power

To avoid the killing of civilians

 

You have said so of your own conscience

Though your enemy has made no such vow

You have sworn to uphold a higher standard

Even while your people were slaughtered

Even while your children away burial

You have given your word even though

Your blood boils with rage

 

It is this promise upheld that divides you

From your enemy

What they may perceive as weakness is

What makes you stronger

You have the strength of conviction

You have the fortitude of principle

 

Now you must hold true to your word

No matter what atrocities transpire

Despite the cries for blood vengeance

No matter how many loved ones fall

 

Voices for peace have called for

Safety zones and cease fires

Let it be so

They ask for time to evacuate civilians

Let it be so

They ask Egypt to open its crossing

Let it be so

 

Let the world observe you decency

Let the world observe compassion

Let your enemy bow in shame

The Way of Vengeance

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Way of Vengeance

 

The way of vengeance is always wrong

It is born of righteous rage

It satisfies the suffering soul

It fuels the flames of hatred

It sings a righteous song

But the way of vengeance is always wrong

 

The cries of mourning in the air

Move and pierces every heart

We yearn to answer blood for blood

A sense of rage forever building

All sense of balance gone

But the way of vengeance is always wrong

 

This path will lead to endless war

The innocent will suffer most

A generation lost to bitter rage

A circle of death and suffering

The siege is brutal and long

The way of vengeance is always wrong

 

A mother screams her child is dead

A father cries we will not rest

Until the streets are colored red

The rage of sorrow never ends

The chain goes on and on

The way of vengeance is always wrong

To Win is to Lose

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL

To Win is To Lose

 

It does not matter what happens next

We know what follows down the road

The blood has just begun to flow

The death, the tears, the cries of woe

 

No one will remember why

No one really knows

We will think of it and sigh

As the need for vengeance grows

 

You cannot win this kind of war

Though victories are proclaimed

Each blow will wound you to the core

The aggressor always faces blame

 

A hundred years of misery

That’s what we have in store

A hundred years of payback

For starting this brutal war

Victims of War

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL

 

Victims of War

 

Hamas is not Palestine

Yet the Palestinians will pay the price

For this brutal attack on Israel

Israeli citizens are not Netanyahu

Yet Israelis will pay the price

For Netanyahu’s militancy

The victims of war are often not

The perpetrators of war

 

The citizens of Gaza live in poverty

Subjected to constant abuse

Death and destruction are part of their lives

They did not vote for this war

They do not deserve what follows

 

The citizens of Israel are proud

They have a legacy of suffering

Most Israelis did not vote for brutality

Most are frustrated by their government

Most only want to survive in peace

But all Israelis suffered from this

unconscionable act of war

 

The innocent of both sides

Will continue to suffer and die

Until the leaders of both sides

Finally find a path to peace

Unintended Consequence

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Unintended Consequences

 

War is a blunt instrument of change

Even when victorious on the battlefield

It produces unintended consequences

It changes oppressors into the oppressed

Transforms the oppressed into oppressors

It alters the balance of powers

In ways we could not anticipate

It strengthens aggressor nations

It destroys natural alliances

 

Hamas has ended Israeli democracy

No longer will Israelis take to the streets

To protest the strongman of Jerusalem

No longer will the people push for change

Hamas with this ill-advised attack

Has unified the Israeli people

Has strengthened Israeli alliances

Has weakened the resistance

And given Netanyahu all he wanted

 

This war is a colossal blunder

Not only will it end the lives of innocents

It will turn the world against you

Now you stand with the outcasts

Now you stand with death and destruction

Now you stand against order and justice

No longer can we plead your case

You have chosen the way of war