Peace Offering – A poem for Parsha Vayikra (Aliyah 4)

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And from the peace offering, he shall bring a fire offering to the Lord

In the oldest days peace came
in the form of slaughter.

You can read the details of the ritual –
Which animal, what happens

with its kidneys and liver,
how it all becomes smoke.

Not far away and a couple millennia
gone by, the chief oligarch

brings a three mile convoy
of peace

and claims of NAZIs to sweep away.
Our pale of settlement

gets more pale.
Around the world the banks

make a forceful peace –
An electronic siege.

The technology of war
has kept up.

Meanwhile, the number of
living humans fluctuate.

Who or what do I need to
slaughter today to have my

peace offering heard? There’s nothing
in the fine print about this

These poems are offered free for your enjoyment. If you use them as part of an event, meeting, educational or liturgical setting, please consider tipping the author.

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