I saw an old man weep with the
strength of a young man,
And a young man cry with
the bitterness of an elder.
I saw a time after time, and children
asleep on hard stone because
tomorrow, tomorrow they would no
longer have to.
I saw a head without a covering
pressing their nose to the wall with
more tenderness than a scribe,
tracing creation with black fire on white.
I saw the smoke of a thousand
cigarettes, like a city burning
and the roar of ten dozen sons like
the clash of seven armies
I saw the doves fly back and forth like arrows,
and grown men and women lay
siege to their own walls
I heard the background radiation of
a hundred grins, humming past the
gates,
and the confused smile of a green light between two trees
I heard in this place a voice of
return, and there
I saw Jerusalem.
The Birth of a Lion
