She Was to Be My Wife

For Primo Levi, and Every Other Beautiful Soul who Antisemitism Tried to Crush

She Was to Be My Wife

She was to be my wife,
She was to be my bride,
She was with me to spend a life,
Before they took her from my side. 

She loved to go to concerts, 
She had an angel’s voice,
Her smile was the sunshine,
She was a light of joy. 

I met her on the bus, 
I met her on the train, 
I loved her for an hour, 
Yet I loved her all the same. 

But she was to be my wife, 
In this daydream fantasy, 
Until they stole her life, 
And nightmared my reverie. 

How many lovers swoon,
How many lovers ache? 
Our wives are all marooned,
Beyond their hellish gate.

They have stole my woman, 
They have stole my light. 
My heart would bid me weep,
But my hands would have me fight. 

And If I Were a Man, 
Si C'était Une Homme,
I’d do more than hatch a plan, 
I’d do more than write this poem. 

I was taught we should not fight, 
I was taught we should not hit, 
But men who know their wrong from right, 
Cannot abide this shit. 

She was to be my wife, 
Nearly one year ago, 
Since then she’s been kidnapped, 
So no, I can’t let go. 

Primo Levi’s most famous work, Survival in Auschwitz, was originally published under a different name, If This Were A Man. American publishers did not believe this poetically beautiful title would sell, so they changed the name. This work, whatever you call it, is a masterpiece from the depths of hell. It is the true story of Dante’s journey through darkness, the human Inferno.

Just as the nazis created hell on earth in their time, so too have Hamas created a living hell in ours.

We who walk comfortably above ground in times like this owe our brothers and sisters who are trapped in hell a great debt, and we must do everything within our power to liberate them.

Spread love, Spread light,

Am Yisrael Chai