Esther Dagan

Esther Dagan Poems

Esther Dagan Biography

Born in Jerusalem, Esther A. Dagan immigrated to Canada in 1978. She graduated from Scola Cantorum Dance Academy in Paris and later received her BA and MA in Theatre and Drama from the Tel Aviv University, where she also taught the History of African Arts for ten years. Between 1962 and 1978, over 100 of her articles, stories and essays were published in various newspapers and magazines in Israel. In Canada, besides teaching at Concordia University and invited as a guest lecturer to many institutions, she authored ten books and edited three books on the African Arts, all of which have been listed at Amazon.com. In the late 90's, Mrs. Dagan has shifted her writing to fictional short stories, plays, screenplays and poems. Besides 13 published books on the African Arts, of which most are out of print, Mrs. Dagan's short stories collections, 'Mask' was published in 2002 and 'Jerusalem, Snapshots from a Distance' was published in 2003. Her two-act play, 'In Search of Characters' was published in 2004. Her short story, 'Terra-Gay', won the first prize in a contest by the Canadian Authors Association in 2001. Her story, 'Beckett? Qui-Est-Ce? ', was published in (Ex) Cite, Journal of Contemporary Writing 2001. Recently, one of her poems, 'The Invisible Shrine', was published in The Canadian Jewish News. In her drawers, hundreds of poems are waiting to be published and 'Three Mothers' is the first to be published here.)

The Best Poem Of Esther Dagan

Three Mothers

Inspired by Christiane Amanpour's Documentary: 'God's Warriors'


In search of the truth
A virtue of the highest absurdity
For the first time, three devout mothers met

They met online in one of the many rising sun jihadi forums.

Unhappy with the endless “revenge, ” “killing, ” and “destruction, ”
The three opened a chat room of their own. Joking, laughing and having fun, by three points
Sharing their pride in the achievement of their sons. Until…Oy! Oy! Oy!

Oy! Until they spelled their names and the names of their sons.

My son Isaac, said Sarah, is the son of my beloved husband Abraham.
My son Ishmael, said Hagar, is the son of my lover, your husband Abraham.
My son Jesus, said Maria, millennia later, is too the descendant of Abraham.

Lightning storm and winds overwhelmed the screen.

You are my enemies! yelled Hagar. The infidels! You must be eradicated from the face of this earth!
Calm down, Hagar! pleaded Sarah. We are relatives. We should look forward, talk!
Sarah is right! chimed Maria. We should learn from my son Jesus to forgive.

Dark clouds and heavy hail crossed the screen.

To forgive? Raged Hagar. You, Sarah, threw me into the wilderness with my son! Remember?
A millennia-old story and you’re still angry? wondered Sarah. Now is the 21st century.
Things have changed indeed, stated Maria. Why don’t we look at some numbers?

They Googled “What are the numbers of our descendants? ” Click. On the screen:

The descendants of Jesus, the Christian, number about 2.1 billion people around the globe
The descendants of Ishmael and Mohammed number about 1.5 billion people around the globe
The descendants of Abraham, the Jews, number about 15 million people around the globe

The argument between the three devout mothers heated up.

Why only 15 million Jews survived? asked Hagar. Punished for your sins like occupying our land since 1948.
Enough! suggested Maria. Only an intermediary like our Pope will help us solve our problems.
The Pope? Over my dead body, interrupted Hagar, we need the highest Imam.

Hagar and Maria continued their debate until Sarah joined in.

Neither the Pope nor the Imam would be fair for us, said Sarah. We should turn to our highest Rabbi.
Rabbi? You are a mere minority, said Hagar, soon to disappear and you want us to consult a Rabbi?
Let me remind you, said Sarah, that most of our ten commandments became universal and adopted by you.

After a few moments of silence, all three simultaneously agreed to approach the President.

Which one?

The new one, said Maria, the Christian, the promising one.
Barack, said Hagar, in Arabic it means the blessed.
Yeh, said Sarah, Barack in Hebrew means lightening.

Finally, they all agreed and wrote. Dear President!

Would you please help us to sign a peace agreement?

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