“Which is better, one Israeli soldier dead or one thousand Gazans civilians killed?”
(A common right-wing Israeli argument)

Someone has to die. That’s what I’ve been told.
Someone simply has to. Someone must die!..
Someone has to die on the right side,
Or someone will have to die on the other side. Which is better?
The right side or the other. The right or the other, side?
There is always a balance between the right side and the other side.
If someone dies on the right side, then nobody dies
On the other side, and vice versa. Which is better?

Perhaps it is better to die both on the right side and on the other.
Because it makes it very easy to count the dead on the right side
And compare them with the number of the dead on the other side
And statistically prove that the dead on the right side
Really belong to the right side, as oppose to those of the other side –
They belong to everyone. Which is better?

Maybe it is better if nobody dies.
Not on the right side and not on the other side.
Maybe that’s how it would become possible to stop counting the dead,
Because there will be none, and start counting the living.
Statistically, those who belong to the living also belong to the right side,
And to the other side. Which is better?