In memory of Dovi Levitan Z”L, and all the tragic losses of our children through the year. By Chaim Bashevkin

It comes a time too often
When summer’s skies turn gray
And thunder shakes the heavens
And night engulfs the day

And all our dreams of sunny days
Are shattered by the sound
Of children’s hopes
And parents dreams
Crashing to the ground

The robust breaths of childhood
Choked by a speeding ball
The Torah of a child stilled
By an elevator fall

A young girl’s smiles crushed
Plunged down a hole, destroyed
A speeding truck
In seconds struck
To leave such dreadful void

And strewn about the shattered lives
As generations weep
A broken nation wakes once more
From apathetic sleep

And tears they fill up streams of pain
Ion bedrock we thought dry
Indeed they would fill an ocean’s vast
Each teardrop asking, “Why?”
 
Why
Does the sun stop shining?
Does laughter turn to tears?
Does healthy life turn sickly?
Do children sleep with fears?

Why
Do the rockets fall on us?
Do monsters hate us so?
Do some of us turn on our own?
I fear, I’ll never know

And yet the hope lies in our faith
Of one great Master Plan
For on the rivers that were hewed
From tears of mortal man
 
A ship shall carry calming news
Across their silent wake
That all the tears that formed their mass
Were only a mistake

For one day skies shall sparkle
As little children play
And never will we cry again
As sun shines on our day

And grass will dance
And trees will sway
And mountains will soon sing
When all the pained
Will be explained
By our kind and gracious King

(Yated Ne’eman / YWN)