I see it packaged on the shelves, so I take it
A swipe of a card, a ripping of plastic
and it’s mine
Just drop the wrapping in the can
Somewhere in the back of my mind
I know I am destroying the world
but so what
right now this tastes real good
Watching the newsreader talk about
natural disasters on faraway islands
children crying in the streets of war-ravaged countries
If the pain registers
It is a dull kick against an oversized belly
And they’re only words on a screen
just change the channel and move on
When we dream at night, there are dreams
Dreams of how we would live our lives
Free to obey the calling of our hearts
Actualizing our deepest wishes
But what can we do – it’s impractical
And the dreams are left standing behind our wall
Crying out, but we still ignore them
What is this life, that is not a life
Thinking one way and acting another
Distancing sorrow, distanced from joy
Submerging our ideals
For the sake of a truncated existence
Ignoring – no, consciously disobeying
The voice that calls us higher
Turning away and betraying ourselves
How long can we remain with ties around our necks
before we choke for lack of air?
It has been said that the gap between the mind and the heart
is as far as the distance from earth to heaven,
but is the Jewish nation not compared to sand and stars?
Do we not transcend all borders, bridge all divides?
Do we not bring all things together?
Are we not the ones about whom it is said,
“No unity comes to the world except through Israel”?
Master of the world,
I ask for strength
I ask for courage
I ask for help.
Lead us on the path of integrity
Where the heart and the mind are not separated by walls
But work side by side as one.
Teach us to live a life
Where dreams are not meant to remain dreams,
Where the heart is not a castle surrounded by a moat
Nor the mind a professor in an ivory tower
Break down our walls, HaShem
Grant us unfogged minds and feeling hearts
And build a bridge between them
That the mind might direct and the heart yearn after it
Song can raise us to the highest heights
If only we can attain the harmony
The prophet spoke of a time
When the heart of stone would be replaced with a heart of flesh,
May you bring about this time
Speedily in our days.
