Agam
Daniella
Karina
Liri
Naama
five vibrant
vital flowers
beginning bloom
surveilling their field
suddenly savagely
ripped from their soil
from their land
from the earth itself
Agam
Daniella
Karina
Liri
Naama
if I were Catholic
this ritualistic repetition
would be my recitation
of the rosary
but I was born a Jew
with all the pride
and responsibility
that ancient honor brings
and my ceaseless repetition
of their names
hearkens back millennia
to something deeper
primal
visceral
my tribe
Agam
Daniella
Karina
Liri
Naama
they are my sisters
Hersh is my brother
eyes closed
their faces rise before me
Daniella‘s head is bandaged
Karina’s too
wilted and bruised
crushed and trampled
despair and beauty
mingled with defiance
they are far
unreachable
underground
or above
secreted
amidst the rubble
and yet
they are with me
every day – all day
and every night – all night
Agam
Daniella
Karina
Liri
Naama
their names
a constant melody
(I refuse to say dirge)
as I move throughout my day
they live inside me now
nothing I do
and nowhere I go
is without them
on October 7th
as their world contracted
to impenetrable darkness
my world expanded
encompassing them all
my sisters and brothers
ein mishpacha
one family
one people
my people
Am Y’IsraelLit. ''the one who struggles with God.'' Israel means many things. It is first used with reference to Jacob, whose name is changed to Israel (Genesis 32:29), the one who struggles with God. Jacob's children, the Jewish people, become B'nai Israel, the children of Israel. The name also refers to the land of Israel and the State of Israel. Chai
Say Their Names
