The Honeymoon Away From War – a poem for Parsha Ki Teitzei

When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out in the army…He shall remain free for his home for one year and delight his wife. ~ Deuteronomy 24:5

Any excuse to avoid the draft
to avoid the war, to avoid the killing,
the capturing, the destruction.

Any excuse to delight your
chosen one, your partner,
your b’sheret.

Any excuse to behave like
newlyweds, even if your union
began long before they

ever thought up the war. This war.
There is always another war
if you need one.

I’m sorry I can’t go to the war, today.
I’m in the throes of a honeymoon.
Can we get them to sign a note

which says excused from the war
due to honeymoon? This should be
our national ID. This should be

all we need to cross a border
until there are no more borders
and no one is interested in

defending them, anyway, as we’re all
too busy delighting our chosen ones
on the other side of wherever

the border used to be. You do you
and I’ll do me and we’ll take all
the years off from doing anything else

in our homes, in our homes with
our delightful other, in our delightful
war-free homes.

Rick Lupert, a poet, songleader and graphic designer, is the author of 28 books including “God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion.” Find him online at www.JewishPoetry.net