Ismail and Yitzhak Are Half-Brothers

Watch me read
the poem as
a YouTube video.

Music: Concerto for Organ and Orchestra Op7 no1 mvt2.
By George Frideric Handel.
Performed by The Advent Chamber Orchestra at the Free Music Archive
under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license.

Alpha List

Poems for the
High Holy Days

Ismail and Yitzhak are half-brothers,
Raised by different, sometimes hostile mothers,
But joined in ancestry by one great man -
Their father, Ibrahim, or Abraham.

So close they are, and yet so far apart!
Their enmity a defect of the heart.
For families ought to love, and not to fight.
But each, aggrieved, is sure that he is right.

Their New Years are this year almost in sync,
Which is more meaningful than you might think.
For though in both the hatred might run deep,
None would willing sow what they might reap.

And so this accident of New Year dates,
If seized by them to harmonize their fates,
Clarifies the compromise that sits
So clearly on the table of their wits,
And realigns the borders of their fear
To resurrect the hopes that both hold dear.

Oh, what a life for both might then ensue!
The dreams of plenty coming into view!
As brothers their old brotherhood renew
In one new year for Muslim and for Jew!

Copyright by Nicholas Gordon. Free for personal or non-commercial use.

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