Poem of Protest, #10 - O Jerusalem: Grief and Lamentation

Years ago I wrote several poems of protest as I raged against society and corrupt politics.  In the years since then, I have drawn closer to my Faith, traveled elsewhere in the country to experience a domestic mission, became a grandmother four times over, uprooted myself late in life, and watched the world change for the worse.  

My life now centers on hope, prayer, and peacemaking.  I'm not very good at it.  Or perhaps it's not that I fail, but that others fail to hear.  In this time of tearing conflict, when black is white and white is black, I look back on those poems of protest and O, Jerusalem especially called to me.  At the end of 2023 A.D., the suffering in Jerusalem and of the Jews has not changed.  In over 4,000 years, hearts have not softened, minds have not matured, and love and wisdom has not taken their rightful place side by side in the hearts of mankind.

O, JERUSALEM

Temple Mount
Four thousand year veneration
 Judaism, Christianity, Islam
Eleven entrance gates guarded by guns
Ten for Muslims, one for Others
O, Jerusalem

God manifested
Birthplace of Talmud
Birthplace of Adam
Neighbor to the binding place of Isaac
Temple Mount, Stronghold of Zion
O, Jerusalem

Temple Mount
Home of Jewish Temples
Center for  national life
Government, law, religion, economy
O, Jerusalem

First built by Solomon
Destroyed by Babylonians
Second built by Zerubbabel
Destroyed by the Romans
O, Jerusalem

The third still to be built
Holy of Holies
Lost in a sea of stone
O, Jerusalem

Temple Mount
Central importance
from age to age
Usurped by Holy Sepulcher
O, Jerusalem.

Christians left, nature destroyed.
third temple effort
Suffering neglect out of respect
O, Jerusalem

Temple Mount
Seventh-century rubble heap
Muslim conquest
Recovery, Renew, Reclaim
O,  Jerusalem

Dome of the Rock
Al Alsqa Mosque
Occupier of Holy of Holies
O, Jerusalem

Grief and lamentations
Hatred your tool of contempt and power
International body, you had NO right
O, Jerusalem

O,