MIRIAM STANLEY

Midah kneged midah (MEASURE FOR MEASURE)

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth;
the Rabbis instruct: "measure for measure"

Their sweet stretch of imagination, wrapping themselves around
crushed oculars and dropped incisors, the dross and jetsam of
fistfights and accidents collected on humanity's floor.

——midah kneged midah——

as in: "If you crash into a neighbor's leg,
          you pay the cost of that limb."

as in: "If you honor the memory of murderers,
          your own memory is stolen from you"

as in: "If you choose to forget Bitburg,
          you breed the loss of all thought"

as in: "If you are oblivious to the suffering of AIDS patients,
          you will suffer to be completely oblivious."

midah kneged midah.....

The cost of one thing for another.

The cost,
           the cost....