PerfectlyWritePoetry: Only One Kid

Wednesday 11 February 2015

Only One Kid

The doe kid being cuddled in this picture was barely 24 hours old when members of the Karmiel branch of the English Speakers Residents Association (ESRA) met her at Havat Rom, the Organic Goat's Cheese Farm in Kamon, Misgav, Galilee.

But before I give you my thoughts on the happy scene, I’ll recall a great cultural and political scandal here in Israel during the first Palestinian Intifada in 1989.

It happened when the renowned singer-songwriter, Chava Alberstein produced a version of the popular Passover melody Chad Gadya criticising Israeli policy and the army’s presence in Lebanon. It caused a huge outcry; at least one music shop owner threw out his entire stock of her material and the recording was temporarily banned from being played on several radio stations.

Now, read my own take on both the pictures and the seder (Passover meal) favourite:

Only One Kid

I’m the new kid,

born yesterday.

But in the flash that set

my heart beating, Lailah,

Angel of Life, skipped past

my upper lip, so that

first sip of Mummy’s milk

tasted of all the world’s

woes just taught me.

I’m only a tiny kid,

but I know who made me.

Heaven decreed that Daddy’s seed

shaped me girl, not boy. Strong,

not weak. Long-limbed, velvet-eared,

worth a queen’s treasure –

far higher than any amount of zuzim.

Meeting me beneath her

apple bough, Eve foretold

I’d sail the flood, hear Sarah

laugh. Feed, shoe a hundred hapless,

Arameans as they wandered weary,

Egypt-bound.

At least, she vowed, I’d not be

Azazel’s, sacrificed for others’ sins.

I’d dwell instead on Sinai’s

softer slopes; prance with Miriam’s

timbrelled dance;

glimpse glory.

In this life, I‘ll reign again,

not destroyed by cat

or butcher’s blade,

then quite forgot.

Now, give me due place

among you, to end

on a joyous, rousing note,

with the singers,

not the sung.

I’m only one kid.

Adore me.