A Jew is one who knows that night
Can come with the sun,
That the earth one stands on
Might turn to quicksand
And swallow his name, his breath,
Or that he might still be
In the whale’s belly,
That a man laughing unafraid
Can the next minute be Job
Blind from weeping in the void.
Why? Why? Why? Why?
As the Jew clutches his book
Swaying as he prays—
That small star in the dark sky
Symbolizing his destiny,
His seed growing in and out of time—
That he is one, that he is a Jew.
One, a poem by Gary Pacernick
A poem from "The Jewish Poems"