Three Walls in the Land of the Broken Hearted - Sally Churgel

[Larry Robinson]

Three Walls in the Land of the Broken Hearted


l. Western Wall - Jerusalem

Thousands of years old, smoothed
by countless caresses from those
beseeching the stone to carry
prayers wherever prayers go

Swifts sleep, eat, mate on the wing
lift and lilt above the plaza blithely
trespass the wall to become
illumined by the golden dome

The limestone retaining wall entices
the swifts and pilgrims to nestle
prayers and twigs into
its ancient crevices

A soundless propulsion of
divine love pours down the stone
into the hands of supplicants
flowing through wrists and arms

into hearts and out shoulder blades
like winging swifts, like angel wings 
cleansing and conveying centuries of
prayers and grief to cloudless skies


ll. Separation Wall

Thirty-foot high walls of concrete,
hardened sand like Pharaoh’s heart,
snakes, a viperous barrier,
resentfully through the countryside

A prayer for separation from Otherness
On one side people; invisible, unprotected
On the other; their holocaust history of
decimation denied

Once, the freed Israelites trudged
round and round in circles
For 40 years they passed their grievances
through their tongues and genetics

round and round through the centuries
to the children of their children’s children
the ones who never forgave
Pharoah the 400 years of enslavement

Round and round to the Palestinians
who now captive behind 440 miles of walls
bake pita and love their children
who, too, pray to the God of Abraham


III. Interior Walls

Guard your hearts guardedly
lest you grow security gates
posting Do Not Enter signs
onto your wingless stuck prayers 

Pray for forgiveness of the
endless circling
‘round the desert of hopelessness
and the dead sea of separation

Pray for courage to face your walls
Pray for cracked open hearts
yours and theirs
Pray for winged love to raze

the concrete walls for lush
gardens with low hedges, where
hands can reach across to share
pomegranates and figs

	- Sally Churgel