Jerusalem Poem by Naomi Shihab Nye

Jerusalem

Rating: 3.2


“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, Sweden

I’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.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Chinedu Dike 30 August 2019

Beautiful rendition nicely brought forth with clarity of thought and mind...............................................

0 0 Reply
Castellenas John 20 April 2019

Honest, powerful and worthwhile words. Amazing poetry Naomi.

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Dutendra Chamling 29 October 2015

...says he was aiming at a bird. And my father starts growing wings... Poem has strong legs and big wings as well. wonderful poem.

1 1 Reply
Joe Breunig 04 January 2012

Oh for the peace of Jerusalem; despite all of the prayers previously offered to God, it's a place that has been destroyed 13 times and subsequently rebuilt; the weariness of wars continues to sow seeds of suffering among the descendants of Abraham, within the lineage of Ismael - fighting over the ownership of land that still belongs to God. -Joe Breunig Reaching Towards His Unbounded Glory

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Naomi Shihab Nye

Naomi Shihab Nye

St. Louis, Missouri
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