The Jewish sages teach us that
whoever saves one life
it is as if he saves the world.
Try though I might to find it,
I cannot locate the exception
for those unfortunate enough
to live among others who
commit unspeakable acts,
but surely there must be an exception.
How else do you explain why
tens of thousands of worlds
were not saved in Gaza, why dozens
of worlds perished just outside Beirut.
Some say you must read it
in conjunction with the words of Exodus
an I for an eye, a life for a life,
but even they cannot point to a magnifier
within Exodus, to proscribe ten eyes
for and eye, ten lives for a life.