Jewish Poem of Contrition

By Darren Stein

There is no hiding from the screams of a child,
Baby forms shredded by shrapnel,
Little bodies broken by bricks;
It makes me sick to look upon, ashamed as
both a human being and a Jew; the tortured
anguish of my conflict of loyalty and identity;
Yet, I owe my integrity first to my humanity,
and then only to my tribe.
I must weep for blood that is not my own.