New York Atonement Day Poem by Frank Bana

['For the sin we have committed before Thee
for not working for peace... grant us atonement'.]


I decided I could not take it any longer
Something had to be done - and by me!
People complaining I was on a downer.
Morose, they said. Horribly testy.

So I took myself by the 'scruff of the neck'
With my silver star dangling down
And I threw myself onto the ground
In front of the flags in coloured array
Along the facade of the UN HQ -
And I commenced to pray.

UN Security with their badges and blue
Came running over to see who I am
I showed them my Pass, in between Baruchs
They frowned, and decided I was best left alone,
Just another staff member gone mad.

It went so well, broken Hebrew and all
That I decided to try it out once more
In front of the Israeli consulate
On Second Avenue. Sure, they would get it.
It was just a little more difficult there
With the concrete blocks and the close-up stares

But no-one bothered me overly much.
Gaggles of tourists were snapping away
A cyclist screamed, 'get out of the way! '
A man in fatigues called me 'crazy mo-fo'
(Well they have a tendency to, you know) ,
Then came a Hasid, who said, 'brother please,
Enough with all of that whining for peace'.

'There's a war on, or haven't you heard? ', I replied
'And it's been raised up to Permanent Status.
And that's what I just can't stand anymore
The lust for and deification of War
The day has come for us each to atone
So I've hauled out my books to learn Hebrew again,
The multiple names of G-d and of Man.

Join me or leave me, I need to rehearse
To recite expiations in double-quick time
To kneel on the sidewalk, to sway as I pray
Knowing the cops will be soon coming by.
And they don't want to find me down on my knees....
.... or do they? '

'Mazel tov', he said. 'And have a nice day'.