One God Divided In The Holy Land
By Genevieve Cora Fraser
In a broad brimmed black hat
Long coat and white beard
Swung loose he crossed
With the red light to home
From synagogue endearing
To behold in the chaotic midst
Of a Los Angeles intersection
Pale yet pious in deportment
He brought back memories
Of grandma's hope chest
The secret drawer within
As children our grimy
Hands would fondle
The silken fabric
Of the midnight blue
Ancestral yarmulke
In ancient Aramaic
Yarei-mei-elokah
In awe of the Lord
The skullcap was hidden
Unexposed to the Christian
Conversion of subsequent
Generations to a Messiah
Whose tongue spoke
The Beatitudes Blessed
Are the peacemakers
For they shall be called
Children of God
Written in the sacred text
Aramaic so despised
By many in modern Israel
Aramaic the mother tongue
Of the Arabs and Jews
Of the apostles
The crucified Christ
Thousands of years honored
Now disparaged by those
Who uphold the thousands year
Old unforgiving commandment
Deut. 20:16-17
Not to keep alive any
Of the Canaanite nations
(Kill them, expell them
Or cage them like animals)
Canaan home to the ancient
Sea People the Philistines
Linked to Mycenean Greece
Conquered by Egyptian
Kings Ramses birthed
Free in Palestine
As were the Israelites
The Promised land
Lost in the Diaspora
Due to transgressions
Specified in the Torah
Prohibited from regrouping
As a nation they press on
In settlements unsettled
By killings reenactments
Of ancient battles
David and Goliath
In reverse Israel's
36 Billion Dollar
Military pitted
Against sling shot
Stone throwing
Palestinians lost
In perpetual war
Perpetuated
By the godlessness
Of conquest
Lost to the quiet
Life of the pious
Worshipers
Of the One
G-d
Allah
In whose essence
We owe our being
Lost to the ravages
Of martyrdom
Lost in a longing
To once again
Be free