Erase the Lines – A poem for Parsha Mishpatim

I will set your borders from the Sea of Reeds to the Philistine Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River, for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hands, and you will drive them out from before you. ~ Exodus 23:31

This is not our finest moment
going into a land and removing its inhabitants
so that land will be our land

especially when, thousands of years later
we are arguing that certain land
is our land.

Borders are ridiculous.
To say on one side of a line
you get free Band-Aids

but on the other side bandaids cost
a thousand dollars and you need an ID card
is ridiculous.

To say on one side of a line
food is plentiful, just bring your mouths
and your credit cards and we’ll hook you up

but on the other side food is not a given
and people wonder when there will be
food again is ridiculous.

I like going to the places
across these lines we’ve fabricated
where people have done things

to experience them and taste them
and gaze upon them, so I’m okay with
things being different but you’ll never

catch me building a wall, or
calling for a wall or telling anyone they
need to stay on their side of a wall.

So tear down the walls, erase the lines
remove the word border from the lexicon
and free Band-Aids for everyone.

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