~~~

Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence ‘gainst the merchant there.

Shakespeare
The Merchant of Venice

~~~

Dedicated to all people who are
persecuted for their ethnicity


~~~
Therefore, Jew

know all ye men by their
presents
an invitation
to be seated in the imprisoning box,
resting upon and before imbalanced scales,
perforce, by force,
this low world court
of the blinded
and still, and yet,
a chamber filled
of honesty-depleted
unjust men,
courtier witnesses,
of hate repleted

expect only mean justice serviced
for in the course of justice,
none of us
should see salvation

the scales pre-set,
one side favoring,
by the "virtue" present
of the tipping lean of
finger-pointing, weighty, pointless,
consuming hatred

the world despises you, Jew

this sunrise surmise,
no surprise, routinized,
freshly delivered daily
to thine inbox's unsettling
junk mail

so,
inviable victims, you bookish people,
be well unforgiving,
for to fore,
the new day commences,
supplying fresher welts and taunts,
soured served upon a
cracked, blackened,
break-fast plate

no finale,
no solution,
to our rooted rutted hated fate

yes, ours,
for am I not too
numerically wrist-tatooed,
guilty for praising God and
seeking favor with all the people,
the Lord counts me in our numbers,
every day by day,
these present and souls past,
living mated with despotic hatred

be ever sophisticated,
cyanide cynical,
no news here, this too
shall pass,
parse a new year approaching,
and none the wiser

refrain from the pain,
cease to pine and whine,
de-rank from sniveling logicians
for all such propositions,
are
by silence answered

Hath not a Jew eyes?
Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses,
affections, passions;
fed with the same food,
hurt with the same weapons,
subject to the same diseases?
healed by the same means,
warmed and cooled by the
same wind?

but even the wind
turned against us,
for nothing is sacred,
even a deity's creation,
when men
raise up their children
to rise up
to hate

Therefore, Jew,*

seek no mercy
in the court of men;
thy salvation
and thy recompense
has forever been and will to be,
seak not to wash away
the surfeit return of the ilk of unwarranted hate

code nurture the silent
divine spark
within,
for that is the entirety
of your obligatory,
ancestor-inheritd gift,
this alone
you shall
warrant
and speak,
acting accordingly,
for this is the whole of
your plea