Let There Be Love – A poem for Parsha Kedoshim

And a man who lies with a male as one would with a woman both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon themselves. ~ Leviticus 20:13

I remember being on a plane with a friend
flying somewhere, for sure, because
that’s what planes do.

He started reading a book whose title
gave away his preferred gender to
commingle with.

I said, and I thought I was being funny
now everyone will assume I’m gay.
He replied if I didn’t have this book out

everyone would assume I’m straight.
I’m still trying to learn this lesson –
the struggle any individual goes through

just trying to be who they are
in a society rooted in ancient words
that tell them they are an abomination.

Don’t we have enough to worry about?
The planet is melting. People have
never stopped killing each other.

Greed is a never-ending force that
isolates the other and leads to misery.
These are the true abominations.

The word love appears too many times
in our story to allow for hate. Let that be
the word we take away from this.

Let love be love.
Let love be love.
Let love be love.

Rick Lupert, a poet, songleader and graphic designer, is the author of 27 books including “God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion.” Find him online at www.JewishPoetry.net