Israel Breathes Fear into Arab East Jerusalem
By Genevieve Cora Fraser
Under the great arched casement
I leaned my shoulder’s weight
Against the cut glass windowpane
Unlatched it opened ajar
Allowing in the night air
Jerusalem by starlight
Star-crossed
Ancient guides
Unfurled destinies
Through the eons
Filtered
Passages
Out of chaos
To eternity
Remembered
Bombings blasted
Out the rotted beams
Built when time
Was no obstacle
Time was when
Neighborhoods stood
Against fates folly
When time honored
Prayers lofted to the heavens
Wails woke the living
Announcing the passage
Of the dead in God’s
Good time birth
Was celebrated
Life mellowed
And melted into death
The daily rituals
Assigned by fate
Now accelerate
The courtyard beyond
Filled with rubble
From Al Nakba
The Six Day War
Facts on the Ground
Annihilate
Ancient traditions
Death as plentiful
As the stars dwindled
The neighbors stalked
Neighborhoods drove
Families into streets
Their homes tumbled
Bulldozed wreckage
Rubble remains
A reminder
In the sweetly
Scented night
Jerusalem slumbers
Light fitful
Anticipating
With dread
Zionist power and might
Soldier’s boots
Purging Arab blood
On this crystal night