I can't believe it But everybody says the same thing. And everybody answers it in the same way When you look at them directly. "What do you think about the Relations with Germany?" They don't look back. Their eyes slide off the sideof your face Their faces Masklike. Not them. They answer "We have no alternative." I can't believe it! I heard the same words In 1948 "But how can you fight with nothing?" I asked then. Everybody looked me in the eye then. More than that They took me with their eyes Their lips, their everything. They laughed "We have no alternative." Our greatest ally "No alternative" A flag held high A Shofar blast A new sound in the voice of the Jew The conquering hero Not quite used to the role Not quite sure it fits him Though remembering Saul and his thousands David and his tens of thousands Feeling closer still to the Macabees Palaver to all tastes Not solely holy Not solely profane Comfortable for those who glory in gore Comfortable those who glory in God. "Whoever is for God is for me" Jumbled together In the clash of the sabre In the roar of the sword Knowing war Again after thousands of years Eyes glued to the target Immediate Demanding. Death to the enemy Being life. Enjoying it even. Proud of the victory Glad of the victory. The nation Born again, Its ally "We have no alternative" Straightened the backs Made the Molotovs Stood on guard Blew up hotels Hid transmitters Carried ammunition Brought in "illegals" Frustrated the searchlights. Made the impossible Possible Made the victory more moving than death. To Make war. The badge of the man The crest of the nation. Now again they tell me "We have no alternative." Making the back bent The hypocritical face The sycophantic expression For both As they stand Facing each other Signing a paper Called Diplomatic Relations with Germany. He thinking in his mind The old stereotypes From which he cannot escape. And cartooned He sees This Jew before him Having his price -- as always Usurers -- as always Nothing they won't do for money Sell their own grandmothers Sell their own souls For money "Business" that's all they know. He saying out loud. "So pleased to meet you, Mrs. Abraham You Jews have been terribly wronged by my country And we want to put things right in the eyes ofHistory We want the world to know there is a new Germany She thinking in her mind Where were you in '41? In Dachau on the other side of the whip? In Maidenek on the other side of the pit? In Auschwitz on the other side Of my utter utter nakedness Not even the feel of the round worn ring on myfinger Not even a single hair on my head Not a single possession My body not even left to be mine Sharing its twists and turns with hundreds Of other bodies at night on a shelf like a corpse Or else standing in shit Lest I get hit Or better yet, shot for making a spot On the floor soiled with blood From the heads that were kicked by the shoes full ofmud While standing in line. Not a single possession Hardly my soul left to be mine Holding tight to my sanity My eyes looking indifferent My mind burning with thinking 'Some day"-- . . . Some where Somehow ! ! ! Clutching to life In spite of the crop That would point and would choose At a whim. It could have been him! "A new Germany?" I was twenty years old then I'm forty-five now. What's new about me? Only that I'm living And the others are dead? And dying, they said, "Remember!" Meaning more than the word Remember! They're all alive still Their twenty year olds Who thought it a joke To pull a gray beard, To fire a synagogue. To rape a child To overturn the dead To torture the living. And those who were forty then are now only sixty. A new Germany? She saying out loud, "So pleased to meet you, Mr. Spitler. "Where do I sign, Mr. Spitler? "Read it first, Mr. Spitler? What for? I have no alternative! As she walk out of the room, she holds the papergingerly, The paper is called Diplomatic Relations With Germany No alternative? A flag held high? A Shofar blast?