Amichai

Yehuda Amichai, in "God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children," expresses a longing for peace. In "God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children," it seems as that, to the poet, peace and happiness do not come from God but from the compassion between people. In fact, God is the symbol of peace and happiness in the poem. The line “God has pity on kindergarten children” (Amichai lns. 1) implies that children are happy because they are innocent and not influenced by hatred and greed. As they grow older, their minds become contaminated by thoughts of desires and possessions, thus happiness and peace are replaced by hostility, violence, and conflicts: “He has less pity on school children. / And on grownups he has no pity at all, / he leaves them alone, / and sometimes they must crawl on all fours / in the burning sand / to reach the first-aid station / covered with blood” (Amichai 2-8).            

Amichai goes on to offer a solution to end the suffering of adults: “But perhaps he will watch over true lovers / and have mercy on them and shelter them / like a tree over the old man / sleeping on a public bench. / Perhaps we too will give them / the last rare coin of compassion / that Mother handed down to us, / so that their happiness will protect us / now and in other days” (Amichai 9-17). Compassion is the key to reaching happiness and peace. God has no pity on grownups, but yet he has mercy on true lovers. Thus, the ones who love and sympathize are the ones who are watched over by God which implies that they are living in happiness and peace. The poet suggests that the key to peace and happiness lay within the soul of each individual but not the possession of worldly matters.

Works Cited

Amichai, Yehuda. “God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children.” Trans. Stephen Mitchell. 1650 to the Present. Ed. Peter Simon. 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 1620-21. Print. Vol. 2 of The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Martin Puchner, gen. ed. 2 vols.