Alexandra Horning – Human

 Are they human?
The hands that devastate my town
The calloused palms that hurl stones
Streets littered with glass and blood
The coarse fingers that grip the guns
Voices forever silenced

Are they human?
The eyes that watch
As our synagogues burn
As our people plead and sob
Lives turned to shards and ashes
The dark eyes that ask no questions

Provide no answers
Surely not human.
The lips from which
Spring threats and taunts
From which laughter gushes
A hideous accompaniment
To a symphony of death and fear

Synagogues blaze and smolder
Windows crack and shatter
Homes stand open to plunder
People cry out
Their voices raw and hoarse
Anguish to a silent God
Begging to know the reason for such violence

Still the men move on
Their hands give no mercy
Their eyes no acknowledgement
Their lips no reply

They walk like me
Look like me
Speak like me
But are they human like me?

I stand in the shadowed doorway
With the remnants of my faith
Youth a distant memory

As these animals continue their destruction
Wondering why I can’t find humanity
In men whose sole purpose
is to rob me of my own

Then one of them faces me
Firelight dances across his face
Our eyes connect
Eyes shaped just like mine
His gaze consumes me
I stand transfixed

Synagogues blaze and smolder
Windows crack and shatter
Homes stand open to plunder
People cry out
Their voices raw and hoarse
Anguish to a silent God
Begging to know the reason for such violence

They receive no reply
For their prayer is misplaced
The answer lies in his eyes
That cold, penetrating stare
Eyes filled with hatred
Pure and unabashed
Uneducated, unjustified, unquestioned
All too real
All too terrible
All too human.