Page 187 - Eggs and Ashes pages

186 Eggs and Ashes

Holy Places 2004

Via Dolorosa

In the Old City
we read the inscriptions,
pause where a plaque on the wall
reminds us that Jesus falls
under the weight of the cross
over and over again.

In the refugee camp
we read the writing on the wall:
the stencilled images of martyrs,
graffiti, dusty posters,
calls to action, cries of pain
over and over again.

Women at the wall

At the Western Wall, women
hidden behind a wattle fence
reach across to touch
the scroll of the Law.

On the West Bank
there is another fence
topped with razor wire –

but there is no reaching over this barrier,
no appeal to the law that put it there.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

All under one roof
like a religious shopping mall –
and as oppressive –
Calvary
and the Tomb
and the baffled common people