Two Jerusalem poems
March 24, 2011
As usual, Emily Hauser has written a powerful post about the recent bombing in Jerusalem: On the humanity of the grieving. I commend it to you.
For myself, I find that I cannot muster language to express my roil of emotions at this news, so I'm turning -- as I so often do -- to the poetry of others to express some of what I wish I could say. Here are two poems (of the countless millions) about Jerusalem, by two of my favorite poets. I read them today with a broken heart.
Jerusalem
"Let's be the same wound if we must bleed.
Let's fight side by side, even if the enemy
is ourselves: I am yours, you are mine."
-Tommy Olofsson, SwedenI'm not interested in
Who suffered the most.
I'm interested in
People getting over it.Once when my father was a boy
A stone hit him on the head.
Hair would never grow there.
Our fingers found the tender spot
and its riddle: the boy who has fallen
stands up. A bucket of pears
in his mother's doorway welcomes him home.
The pears are not crying.
Later his friend who threw the stone
says he was aiming at a bird.
And my father starts growing wings.Each carries a tender spot:
something our lives forgot to give us.
A man builds a house and says,
"I am native now."
A woman speaks to a tree in place
of her son. And olives come.
A child's poem says,
"I don't like wars,
they end up with monuments."
He's painting a bird with wings
wide enough to cover two roofs at once.Why are we so monumentally slow?
Soldiers stalk a pharmacy:
big guns, little pills.
If you tilt your head just slightly
it's ridiculous.There's a place in my brain
Where hate won't grow.
I touch its riddle: wind, and seeds.
Something pokes us as we sleep.It's late but everything comes next.
An Arab Shepherd Is Searching For His Goat On Mount Zion
An Arab shepherd is searching for his goat on Mount Zion
And on the opposite hill I am searching for my little boy.
An Arab shepherd and a Jewish father
Both in their temporary failure.
Our two voices met above
The Sultan's Pool in the valley between us.
Neither of us wants the boy or the goat
To get caught in the wheels
Of the "Had Gadya" machine.Afterward we found them among the bushes,
And our voices came back inside us
Laughing and crying.Searching for a goat or for a child has always been
The beginning of a new religion in these mountains.-- Yehuda Amichai (Translator unknown)
May the source of Peace bring healing to all who mourn and comfort to all who are bereaved.