Purim 2023 by Peter Beyfus

Spinning triumphant groggers loudly proclaim defiance;

Haman and his conniving ten sons are silenced.

And those who down the ages pursue hatred

Will find their poisonous rhetoric negated.

By a people who have withstood tyrants past and present;

Whose fire for survival will not relent;

And Queen Esther’s heroism will remain a beacon

In a world where men reject hope and reason.

The Fourteenth of Adar should make hostile Iranians

Think more about peace than extermination.