Not the desire of polite society
To avoid the drama and chaos
Of conflicting human instinct
The pundits cry out for the moderates
"Where are the reasonable voices?"
They ask for the confrontation-averse
They call for the champions
Of maintaining the status quo
The wise who would rather
Continue to live in a world
Of unchallenged hypocrisy
Where occupation is sustainable
And terrorism acceptable - for now -
As long as it doesn't flood
The news feed or clog
The air waves or clutter
The rabbi's disagreeable sermon
The pundits cry out for the peacemakers
"Where are the reasonable voices?"
They ask for the confrontation-averse
They call for the champions
Of maintaining the status quo
The wise who would rather
Continue to live in a world
Of unchallenged hypocrisy
Where occupation is sustainable
And terrorism acceptable - for now -
As long as it doesn't flood
The news feed or clog
The air waves or inflame
The imam who is a foreigner
Anyway - from the Bronx
How exotic - And always
Jews first and Muslims after
Peace is a radical pursuit
Not meant for civility
Peace is not easy or quiet
It does not make way
For celebrity gossip
Or whatever it is that
Normal people care about
Peace is abnormal, anomalous
A miracle, I say, all say
Peace means I must care
About your happiness
As much as I care about mine
It means I must hurt about your pain
As much as I hurt about mine
Peace means that I know
That the word naqba
Emotionally translates to galut
That it is real and
That it will be felt
Statehood or not
For the rest of forever
Until mashiaj comes
To be a Jew means that I believe
With perfect faith that she is on her way
Already, though she delays
To be a Jew means to believe
In the radical notion
That peace is possible
Even now, especially now
Achieving peace as a Jew
Means I must be like the disciples
Of Aaron - loving peace and pursuing it
To be a Jew is to be a storyteller
Of exile - of survival
That inspires the Dalai Lama
To be a Jew is to respond
To the most heated argument
With the affirmation
That these and these are
The words of a living God
The merciful, the compassionate
In which I may not believe
To be a Jew means
To not oppress others
Because I know oppression
To be a Jew means I must beat
My swords into plowshares
And my spears into pruning hooks
And then I must beat my plowshares
Into trumpets and my pruning hooks
Into guitars - to be the folk song army
To be a Jew is to turn
To turn my song into prayer
To be a Jew is to end
All my prayers with prayers for peace
And to pray not only with my words
But also with my feet
Peace is a radical pursuit
Not for those who justify any
Violence against tunnelers
Who are obviously up
To no good at all
Not for those who try
To figure out who
Has the moral high ground
Peace does not blame or shame
Peace is not the absence of violence
It is the hurling of understanding
Against hatred, of love
Against fear, of kindness
Against all types of aggression
Peace is a radical pursuit
It is the humble admission
That I don't know
What it's like to be you
What it's like to be you
That I will never know
What it's like to be you
But that I wish for you
To have everything that I want
And everything that you want
Peace is a radical pursuit
It is the acknowledgement
of guilt and pain and sorrow
Peace is a radical pursuit
It is an offering
Of the broken self
To experience
Further vulnerability
Peace is a radical pursuit
Peace is not the prophet's vision
Peace is not the musician's hope
Peace is not the artist's aspiration
Peace is not the poet's dream
It is her job
Peace is as close to us
As the air we breathe
And as perplexing
As that breath we spend
So many hours trying to find
Welcome to the world's
Most hazardous occupation
Peace is a radical pursuit
It is not standing with anyone
It is sitting with everyone
It is for the brave-hearted
It is for the strong-willed
It is for the faithful
Peace is the proclamation
That in the face of every
Unimaginable provocation
As well as the expected ones
We will not feed the trolls
Except at the dinner table
Where they should eat more
Moderation perpetuates
Hatred and violence
It exacerbates
The pain of the status quo
Moderation is unreasonable
Peace is the reasonable alternative
Peace is a radical pursuit
Impatient, chutzpadik, a loud
Call to prayer at sunrise
Peace is a pundit
Demanding that we abandon
Being perpetrators and being victims
Peace is an activist
Fighting for its presence
Peace is an organizer
Asking you: Are you radical enough?
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