This one for Arzei Levanon, my niece’s neighbor, butchered like an animal by two low-lifes about a month ago while praying in the mountains.
TO RAIZEL IN BAT AYIN
The sun that shines on Galilee
Has dyed your brown hair copper-orange
In wiry veins of mirrored light.
Your countenance is hard and sharp
As Uzi slung across your back.
Young tree, defend your roots, your sap,
Your branches, leaves, the fruits you bear
Beneath the sun of Galilee.
The earth beneath the Western Wall
Has anchored you eternally
In stones they only hold to throw.
Your gait is certain, straight, and clear
As Jordan River’s rapid flow
Between Binyomin’s land and Gad’s.
Proud hawk, fly high and build your nest
Among the jagged crags of hills
Surrounding our Jerusalem
Beneath the sun of Galilee
Among the stony hills.
The sky above Bat Ayin’s loft
Is bluer than your children’s eyes.
And underneath that canopy
They look below beyond the lies
Of vultures hunting rancid meat.
Young cubs avoid the poachers’ snares
Among the cactus thorns and brush
That are your home and refuge place
Among the ancient burial caves
And painted cliffs that suckled you
Beneath the sun of Galilee
Among the stony hills, the farms
That sprouted from dry sand.
The ocean’s waves beat on the beach,
Like giant rhythmic drumming hands
The song is old and young at once
Is bitter gall and honey sweet.
It’s mixed from drops of blood and tears,
The tune from cries of pain and joy
From exiles of two thousand years.
Come home. Come home and free your land
At last from its captivity
Beneath the sun of Galilee
Home to the fire-built house of God.
I am sorry about Azrei Levanon. It is good poem and I like how you link it to the yearning of 2,000 years
PS - have you ever seen the Jordan River? It really doesn't flow rapidly anywhere. In America, we would call it a creek.