My name is Sharone Goldman. I am 13 years old. I found your website and wanted to submit the attached poem.

In the summer of 2008, Israel and Lebanon compromised. Israel was willing to do almost anything for the homecoming of their two soldiers, Ehud "Udi" Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who were kidnapped on a cross-border raid and held hostage in Lebanon a few years ago. My family was is Israel during the war that ensued, and I vaguely remember hearing news of soldiers being taken as prisoners. The agreement between the two neighbors was that Israel would need to return four live prisoners, including a man, Samir Kuntar, who brutally beat a young girl to death. In addition, a few hundred bodies of dead prisoners. And they agreed to return Udi and Eldad, but we would not know what their state would be. If alive, we could only hope they weren’t traumatized or sick. But worse, was death… which was definitely a possibility. We decided to do the trade just to show our soldiers how much they meant to us. Jews and Israelis across anxiously awaited last summer, watching the news so nervously to see the state of our heroes. I convinced myself that they might be alive, and Lebanon’s refusal to tell us that was just “war psychology.” I believe all of us had a small sense of hope when it was time for Udi and Eldad to be returned. But the truth was inescapable when we were handed two coffins of our soldiers. So many tears were shed that day… we aren’t sure how they died, but it is tragic what happened to them, one way or another.

Tricked
by Sharone Goldman

Two years,
Udi and Eldad were imprisoned,
and you finally agreed to let the free.
They could be dead,
or alive,
we had to compromise.

“Four live soldiers
and a few hundred bodies,”
you said.
“For Udi and Eldad,
who might be dead.”

We didn’t know their state,
what might be their fate,
but we had to commit.
We might be tricked,
but it would be worth it.

The trade happened on the border.
Samir Kuntar was freed,
a child killer, out of reach,
and you were elated.

Then three more horrible men you received.
We held our breath,
Waiting,
Hoping,
Dreaming.

So soon we would see Eldad and Udi,
and we hoped they could breath,
to laugh,
to eat,
and prosper with children and wives.

On that terrible day,
two coffins came our way,
our two dead soldiers packed inside,
we gasped… we cried.

And we could not hold on to anymore hope.

It felt like a cruel trick,
it made me weep, it makes me sick.
It seemed definite peace could never come,
but that is certain after what you have done.

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To submit your poem of Jewish and/or Israeli content email bbresky@israelnationalradio.com with the subject line: Poetry Submission.