booksartyoume

'Jerusalem' timothy r gates, 12/03/2008

city
beaten down by one
on a hill,
still alive
-dead,
wailing

city
of
for
Jews, Christians, Muslims
incongruent continuity
Oriental Star Gazers came
to see
a
Jew-baby, Christian-Word, Muslim-Prophet
in a

city
where
beatitudes-blessed words were said
on a hill
side,
"love your enemy,"
the
Jew, Christian, Muslim
the
Star Gazers from the East
living in a

city
risen from desert
headstones
burying the beloved of its
walls
topped with cupolas
topped with
stars, crosses, crescent moons
-wailing

city
of David
Psalmist, still, cries,
'How long? Will you not avenge our blood?'
'My G-o-d! My G-o-d! Why have you left me alone?'
the watchtower
bleeds
at the hands of friends
whipped

city
children of light
have learned war's hatred well
from the same
earth
from the same
breath
from the mothers and fathers
they cried, 'How long?
Choosing to teach their children well
enough carnage to build
a hill for this

city
dead
-alive,
wailing transformed
laughing
-whoops!
dreaming,
a mother's heart broken
no longer will know sacrifice.