Middle-East Packing Mercies
Quick poem I wrote in the concluding days on my recent Israel trip --- more thoughts to come. Meanwhile, pray for peace.
"Middle-East Packing Mercies"
I will take home more questions than conclusions - So, Lord
Have mercy on me if
I take home a suitcase of souvenirs
but leave the struggle behind -
Have mercy on me
if I came to this land
to walk where Jesus walked
but do not walk where
He is walking today --- walking
along the barbed-wire,
front-yard fences, in
homes that have made others homeless;
Have mercy on me
if I have a camera filled with photographs
but cannot tell the stories of the faces
that fill the frame;
Have mercy on me
if I do not break Shabbat bread
around a Jewish table
or feed the hungry in
Hebron -
I pray for time when
Palestinian children
will throw snowballs instead
of stones -
I pray for a time when
Israeli children
will build snowmen instead
of walls ---
I pray for a time
When home becomes
heaven
and peace is a practice
that knows not a checkpoint
or the sound of war -- Lord,
Have mercy on me
if I hear stories of heartbreak
but only
answer with silence ---
Have mercy on me
if I leave this place but never
return to it in
prayer
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