TALK
(Hali Hammer)
I can talk to you about the changes in the weather
I can talk to you about the changes in our lives
I can talk to you about our governments injustice
I can talk to you about the struggle to survive
Why cant I talk to you about whats happening in Israel?
I cant talk to you about the bombings on the news
I cant talk about bulldozers knocking down the houses
I cant talk to you about the Arabs and the Jews
Your parents didnt talk of Pogrom or Holocaust
Ah, but you talked to me of what they had been through
And I still hear the fear implicit in their voices
When theyd mention goyim or the sacrifice of Jews
My Bubby didnt talk about what happened to her sister
But you told me why she couldnt watch TV
When they showed concentration camps and footage of the bodies
How it was that sister whom she feared that she would see
Why cant I talk to you about whats happening in Israel?
I tried to talk to you about Palestine and Israel
You shut down on me, said that even to this day
The Arabs hate the Jews, and the Jews have hated Arabs
Many thousand years, and it would always be that way
I want to talk and say there must be chinks within the armor
There must be a way for sowing love instead of hate
Out of the realm of power into a place of reason
Where both sides could slow down, and just communicate
I want them all to talk of how to ease the lives of children
Stop the posturing, and hold each others hands
To work at hope and reason, not a terror of each other
Dedicate their lives to have a truly Promised Land
I can talk to you about the changes in the weather
We have got to start to listen to each other
Find a compromise at which neither side will balk
To sit at the same table, and deal with this together
And get to a point where we can really talk
Yes, get to a point where we can really talk