Holy Land

By John I. Blair

In this land civilization bloomed:
Ten thousand years of building temples,
Ten thousand years of planting olives,
Of reaping olive harvests.

In this land we found its other face:
Ten thousand years of burning temples,
Turning olive groves to wilderness,
In name of one god or another.

In this land Sennacherib once boasted
Of sowing salt upon the cities' ruins,
Now men sow land mines,
Shed children’s blood, abandon hope.

In this land of people of the Law,
God's sixth commandment goes unheeded;
In this land of roses, milk, and honey,
Kalashnikovs and car bombs rule.

When will this folly end?
When will this land be truly holy?

©2003 John I. Blair