By the Wailing Wall

By the wailing wall
Palestine is butchered
by the wailing wall
Even though it’s only a wall
It’s the wailing wall
And by the wailing wall
It’s laughter time.

Beneath this wailing wall,
A child of the soil
By the scent of heaven I hang;
But how many were the prophets that wailed
Because of this wall?

By the wailing wall it was laughter time then
And by the wailing wall it is laughter time now.

By the scent of heaven
Hang the prophets of God
And now a whole population
Are hanged by the wailing wall.

By the tears of this torn land
This wall is a see-through
My heaven is way beyond this debris
The wailing wall is just a wall.

A chandelier a night for now;
Patience, wait
Be my obedient servant.

Authenticity defies the divide:
This is my land
Before Hitler I was here
After Hitler I am still here
And after all the children of Hitler’s
Wailing wall have gone
Here shall I be.

From this land sprang I
And from this land,
After the bombardment
If nothing else were to remain;
A nail and at least some bone
By the will of Allah
Shall resurrect.

This land is in my bone marrow
I am a child astride by the torn land.
So I will still be here
Even after the Bushes, and all the big
Boys have departed, I will still be here.

Like the prophets I now wail
And like them one day shall I cease to wail.

Authenticity defies the divide
Winner is the one that laughs last
I hang by the scent of heaven
Beneath and beyond the wailing wall
I am with those that wait.

Approaching laughter is a salve
And so much better than impending doom
Patience carries the slave
Yonder, beyond the thunder
Over the wailing metal birds
I wait with those that wait.

For now a chandelier a night, Patience
Wait for me;
It’s wailing time
Palestine is waiting by the see-through wall.

(c)Safi Abdi, 2007, all rights reserved.