David Greenstone is a trial lawyer and a poet. He insists there is no contradiction. His poetry has been published or publication is forthcoming in Poetica Magazine, The Blue Lyra Review, and The Mizmor L’David Anthology. David is also co-author of the book Appropriate Apothejims: A Collection for Life. David was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, where he still lives with his beautiful wife Joanna and their three precious daughters, Caroline, Olivia and Emma. He graduated from the University of Texas in 1995 with a BA in Government and Philosophy. He obtained his JD from the University of Texas School of Law in 1998.
Are these the Jews they took?
Are these the Jews they took?
This seventeen-year-old
this child so beautiful
and her friends who danced all night with us
as if they never had a care in the world.
And would these Jews have been jammed into filthy little boxcars
and shipped away to their slaughter?
These women who for one evening were girls
who stopped only long enough to let us in
so that we could see the people behind.
And would these Jews have been murdered with all the others
waiting in camps
praying for one more hour, or one more minute
or praying for nothing at all
nothing but that the end might come soon.
Are these the Jews they took
I ask, knowing only too well the answer.
These women, these soldiers
who carry Uzis and M16s even when they go out for a bite to eat
and who are so fearless and so strong
and so everything we never were before.
These women, these girls
who danced with us that one night in Jerusalem
these would have been the Jews they took back then.
These Jews that they could never take today.