A Prayer for Seeing a Soldier (by Hanna Yerushalmi)

Copied from The Times of Israel https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-prayer-for-seeing-a-soldier/

At the corner of Kaplan and Ibn Gvirol, 

you stand next to me waiting to cross, 

a tower of olive with dust on your boots, 

and I barely subdue a primal urge 

to wrap my arms around you.

 

Soldier, 

what can I say to you?

For centuries, we had no defenders,

just amulets and allies, 

and now your body is but one brick 

in a massive wall of protection.

 

There is a prayer for seeing a rainbow, 

but what is the prayer for seeing a soldier?