Unwilling Hunter

                                                                       

Little boy,

Who should've been born a hunter,

But what did they give you?

Two small arms

And a cherub face.

What was it you wanted

So far from your grasp,

A two-story fall

Too near to death?

 

Little boy,

Too young to be a hunter,

And what did they give you?

Two frightened women

And a baby sister;

A father who left you

Searching through childhood

For the day you would

See him again.

 

Little boy,

Who looked for life,

And what did they give you?

A Jewish heritage

And the Nazi war

The lullaby of gunfire

And distant bombs

To smother the terror

Of your weeping mother.

 

Little boy,

Waiting for life in a new land,

And what did they give you?

Puberty and a frail body,

A young boy's

Long sought dream

For his father's love,

Shattered

By a broken home.

 

Young man,

Of age for the hunt,

And what did they give you?

A Jewish wedding

Joining egos of the same polarity

Long hours of conflict,

Longing for love

To bathe a feverish

And tormented heart.

 

Young man,

Who has become a hunter,

And what do they leave you?

Headaches and heartaches

That unsteady your aim

Firing blanks of loveless motives

Into victims oblivious

Wounding your soul

From the backfire.

 

Unwilling hunter,

Starved by relentless stalking,

And who will give you

Honesty and truth

To quell a hemorrhaging spirit,

The salve of compassion

To soften aging scars,

Respect and belief

To nourish a waning heart?                                                                                  

 

 

Barbara Benjamin

Free Verse

BBP117