Avadim Hayinu – A Passover Poem (which mentions giraffes)

I

You can have your Matzah
your Moses, your mountain,
your splitting sea.

Your frogs, your fickle Pharaoh
your bloody river, your basket
made of reeds.

You can have your chopped
up apples, or dates if
you’re Sephardi.

But it all boils down to
once we were slaves
and now we are free.

II

Once I asked a group of
six year olds if they could
name any of the plagues.

I got the usual answers.
Blood. Crickets. Wild Beasts.
Several of them said frogs

as if they hadn’t heard
their colleagues utter
the same word.

I even heard giraffes
which just seemed unfair
to that species.

But it was the one kid
who said naked men that
left its permanent mark

while I tried to imagine the
ancient Egyptians dealing
with that particular streak.

III

Because we travel for Passover,
we take the opportunity to leave
our child with his grandparents

after the seders and spend a night
or two in a place like Philadelphia
or Sleepy Hollow, or Jim Thorpe

or any place that feels like
a parents-only promised land.
They’ve never heard of matzah

in the middle of Pennsylvania
and we, consequently, eat
whatever they bring us.

Why? Because once we were
slaves, and now we are free.
Because we are no longer

running from Egypt.
Because we, have all
the time we need.