The physics of evil

(A poem)

Ever since Cain killed Abel
people have been wandering the earth,
erring in error unstoppable.
I too err the land
and from a city most unbecoming
wait for bombs to explode.
I wait for them to explode in Jakarta
when artistic gymnasts except for Jews
meet to compete for world titles.
I wait for them to explode in New York
when the Democratic candidate for mayor
at his next rally accuses the Jews of genocide
only to watch his head fly from his body.
I wait for them to explode in Lausanne
when the Executive Board
of the European Broadcasting Union
meets to decide if Israel is fit to participate
in next year’s Eurovision contest.
And once I am waiting, I ask myself,
why not watch them explode in Slovenia and Iceland,
in the cocaine fields of Columbia,
on Rio’s beaches and MIT headquarters,
at Harvard Yard and Tienanmen Square?
And if they can explode there, I say to myself,
why not in Cairo and Moscow,
Doha and Johannesburg,
Brussels and The Hague,
Karachi and Ankara?
Perhaps even Buckingham Palace,
10 Downing Street or the Elysée,
and lest it be forgotten Madrid
and its partner in crime Barcelona?
Are there not Jews everywhere
ready to wreak vengeance
and restore the hammer of the Stern Gang,
if not the honour of Samson in Gaza?
The trek out of Africa has only brought evil,
an evil that has exhausted even itself
such that nothing besides remains,
not even God’s disappointment.
So to another Jew-hater I say:
let the world end not with a whimper
but with the bang how it started.