Not a Zero-Sum

October 10, 2023Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Meditations, Memoriam, Poetry, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: Current events, End cruelty, End hate, Enough, humanity, pain, Put children first, Terror, Terrorism, Trauma, War 16 Comments

(Photo: Jose A.Thompson on Unsplash)

Heartbreak is not a zero-sum game.

Pain is an and/and.

Destroying another is not a condition

Or proof

Or sign.

Being right or being wronged is not exclusive.

To anyone.

I will condemn

What should never

Be done.

I will not hate a People.

I will not celebrate harm.

I will not justify terrorism,

No matter the desired outcome,

Nor the hurting of children

In ‘payment’ for what someone has done.

I cannot see a space where rape or massacre,

Are ever, ever, a moral ground.

Heartbreak is not a zero-sum game.

Inflicted pain is not a battle won.

‘Collateral’ is not a term,

For anyone.

Babies aren’t worth less,

In another’s arms.

All Color Gone

November 18, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Memoriam, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, End violence, Enough, Family, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Grief, History, Loss, Micro-fiction, War 56 Comments

They will not be coming home.

She paced the few steps from her door to the deck’s edge and back again. She gazed up at the washed out sky. Watched as the shadows encroached on the small lawn to blanket the rocks in the graying garden. Her breath was heavy in her chest.

They will not be coming home.

With every blink, the hues were fading. Taking with them memories of laughter, of pitter-patter, of wet wool and hot cocoa steaming by the fire.

The telegram emblazoned in her mind.

The boys will not be coming home.

All color gone.

Note: Dedicated to all those who knew and know such loss.

Photo prompt: © Sarah Potter

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Blackout

June 2, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Current events, Life and love, Poetry, Reflections, Uncategorized, Writing Tags: Blackout, Current events, End hate, Enough, Human Rights, humanity, love, Racism 7 Comments

Photo: Na’ama Yehuda

Portal To Tomorrow

January 7, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Photography, Poetry, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: Current affairs, Enough, fpj-photo-challenge, History, Learning from mistakes, No More War, Photo Challenge, Poetry, Tomorrow, Trauma, Trumpets, War 6 Comments

Photo: Smadar Halperin-Epshtein

In the portal to

Tomorrow

Let the trumpets

Ring not

Alarm

And rush to

Harm,

But stop to the

Hubris

Of war.

In the portal for

Tomorrow

May those men

Who rashly

Spend

The life of

Others,

Know the call

Of trumpets

Often heralded

Only pain,

More gore.

Enough.

No more.

For the Tuesday Photo Challenge: Portal

It is Time

December 14, 2018Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Photography, Reflections, Writing Tags: Current affairs, Enough, greed, hope, Justice, Photo Challenge, Photo prompt, Timesquares, Truth, Writing Challenge, Writing prompt 9 Comments

Photo: Na’ama Yehuda

It is time to make time

For the truth

Of what happened.

It is time to make space

For what some wished

Not be known.

It is time to take heed

Of the lengths went

To smother

The misdeeds and bad choices

So the fake

Will take hold.

It is time to revisit

Civic duty and justice

And refuse to permit

Free reign for hate,

Greed and lies.

It is time to return

To the truth.

For in fact it has long been

Well way past

The time.

For December Squares: Time

Balmy Times

June 20, 2018June 20, 2018Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Meditations, Muse and Flow, Photography, Reflections, Trauma and Development, WordOfDayNY, Writing Tags: Abuse of power, Asylum, Camps, Current affairs, Desert, Enough, First Do No Harm, History, Trauma, WordOfDayNY, WordOfTheDay Leave a comment

Photo: Amitai Asif

May the scorch of

Arid hearts

And blazing sun,

Make way for kinder, saner

Passage

To lead humanity through

Balmy times.

Merriam-Webster’s word for June 20, 2018:

Balmy

This post continues the blogging challenge in which Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day, serves as inspiration a-la the “Daily Prompt.”

Want to join me? Feel free to link to this post on your blog, and/or post a link to your blogpost in the comment section below so others can enjoy it, too. Poetry, photography, short stories, anecdotes: Go for it!

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