A Love Poem from Jerusalem

for My Parents

by Sheina Medwed

If I could take your words

and form them

into something I could hold

something solid

and golden

like the stone-faced houses

of this city

 

If I could carry your voices

with me

as I walk these holy streets

a treasure in my purse

a secret source of strength

that generates and heals

like the hot and dusty rays

of God's healing sun

 

And if I tell you

that in this city

of gold and holiness

of jasmine and honeysuckle

of pomegranate and rose

my neshamah sings

my neshamah dances

my neshamah loves

my neshamah waits

for the day

when the distance between us

will be only one of flesh

when for your first time

standing

on this ancient land

the words of our fathers

and the voices of our mothers

will reveal their secret treasures

and you will take them

and form them

into something held forever

more solid

and more golden

than the stone-faced houses

of this city

 

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