© L.S. Bernstein
translated from Hebrew by the author

Whereas I saw Peace
With my own eyes,
I came upon it by chance
Trudging along unhurried,
Meandering by the roadside,
Fragile and indifferent,
Like a false seasonal rivulet,
And recognized it immediately,
Though I had never set an eye on it before,
Because it was different and dissimilar
To anything I had ever seen in our places,
From all the words and scenes
And wars that were frequent
Household members at my table -
And the menaces.
It moved along under the shadow of Sabbath, on a Saturday,
Without much fuss, sated and serene,
Minding its own business;
Vehicles filed towards it
Like endless swarms of ants -
To a place called *Vulcan
Though neither fire nor lava erupted there,
It was merely a shopping center.
And the Children of Israel arose and flocked there on the Sabbath
Including their cars, wallets, wives and children,
To wash their eyes with the sight of merchandise,
To tour the fairs and bazaars -
Everybody was there.
There were Druzes selling ethnic food,
Ismaelite cousins at the cash registers,
Salespersons talking with a “Resh” and “ayin” accent,
All cordially facing each other, trading and purchasing, all peaceful
-  ignorant of fear,
While Peace rustled in the air like the background
Hiss of the wind among the leaves,
Or the hum of mosquitoes,
Attaching itself to the skin like the humidity of summer,
Like a strange and annoying pest that I was not used to,
Scraping my soul with iron combs from another universe.
Therefore will I get me into my red, battered car,
Return home soon, better there to dwell, 
  under the familiar A Bomb threats of Ahmadinejad
  ……so that I may feel at home and calm down.

* Translated from “Ga-ash” in Hebrew
**In the Hebrew original a double meaning is infused into “dwell in peace”, derived from PSALM 122:6. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, they shall prosper that love thee…”, to implicate living peacefully and living in illusion at one and the same time