October 7th 2023 - Before And Beyond Poem by Deanna Samuels

As we speed towards the tragic anniversary,
the rise of anti-semitism throughout the world,
relatively dormant since The Holocaust,
has erupted beyond imagination in one short year,
post the horrors of last October 7th.

Shocked at first, every corner of the world
learned of Hamas' atrocities - the murders, the mutilations,
the beheadings, the pitiless burning of babies alive
as well as whole families sheltering in bunkers,
their burning homes and incinerated villages.

They even attacked hundreds of young folk at a music festival,
leaving many dead, mutilated or badly injured,
turning a theatre of music into a theatre of war.
Overall, over 1,200 innocent souls were slaughtered
with hundreds of others badly injured; they also took
over 200 hostages including bodies of slaughtered IDF,
placing them into tunnels beneath the streets of Gaza.

As in all conflicts and wars, there are sides -
those who are against and those who are for -
and throughout, the Hamas murderers and neighbors
acted and reacted with unbridled celebration,
firing guns into the air, dancing with children,
waving flags - hailing the horror.

Israel, apparently taken by surprise,
(for which leaders will doubtless account in due course) ,
took time to plan recourse and hopefully, to rescue hostages.
When its Forces finally did react, so did much of the world,
resorting to and updating the ugly atrocities of old, including
protest marches, campus sit-ins, spitting, bombing and deaths.

Governments, worldwide, have attempted ceasefires;
the U.N., predictably, remains mired in its swamp,
Hezbollah, in the north, has joined the fray from Lebanon,
attacking Israel's north, displacing thousands there,
proselytizing the Ayatolla's infamy to its evil intent.

Will there ever be peace for the Jewish people?
So illusive, seemingly since eternity,
through countless expulsions, pogroms,
Kristallnachts and Holocausts of one form or another
until finally - FINALLY! - in May of 1948,
they achieved their Promised Land.

True, it's a postage stamp, smaller than Hawaii,
but big enough, and transformed from desert and swamp
into a thriving oasis of commerce, science and art.

But not peace as it's been attacked from Day One
and again in 1956, '67, '73, '82,2006 and, of course, now.
As we remember the tragedy and travesty of Oct.7,2023,
may the hostages be reunited with their families,
and may a lasting peace be agreed to and prevail -

Finally!


Written at Courtice, Ontario, on 29th September 2024, reflecting events over the past year.