04-23-2024, 03:18 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-23-2024, 03:19 PM by RiverNotch.)
To be seen as a part
of the carp that swallowed you whole
when some whale comes and takes a bite,
to be lumped in
with your perennial oppressors
just because you're both as brown,
you both speak the same tongue,
then to read some fool blame
your sole comfort and protection,
forgetting the centuries-old wound
they follow their ancestors in now keeping
open, raw, and bleeding:
O Jerusalem,
what can I offer for consolation
except this poor acknowledgement
and the handful of petitions
added, perhaps, too late
to the litanies we share?
of the carp that swallowed you whole
when some whale comes and takes a bite,
to be lumped in
with your perennial oppressors
just because you're both as brown,
you both speak the same tongue,
then to read some fool blame
your sole comfort and protection,
forgetting the centuries-old wound
they follow their ancestors in now keeping
open, raw, and bleeding:
O Jerusalem,
what can I offer for consolation
except this poor acknowledgement
and the handful of petitions
added, perhaps, too late
to the litanies we share?