The History

The history goes on - Jerusalem
is now
as it always has been the
jewel in the crown the
torn city assaulted by
devotion and woe, rendered
dumb by too much
fashioning the
jostling of our kind jolting
shoulders space from
space to
pray in peace - you
cannot shove your
neighbours out and
be true to me - think
tidily and
repair the damaged stones -
the walls you built
are sacred ones and you
forget their purpose is
to cement and
unify not
rend the temple fabric
lay bare a lost
humanity and
care for brother
set against
brother, sister
crying in the dark
for all love lost
for all religion
parted and
undone.  Remember  -
the world is one, a
unison, and
all the city walls can do
is separate, divide
and tear asunder
what once was -
I tell you
do not bide your time, the
cement should be goodwilled
and benign, not
forested by mortarbombs
rubber bullets
and all the beating
hearts have died.

previous poem