Handcuffs, battered face
blooded nose and blazing eyes
a proud brow, the snarling head of lions, ripping havoc into the tails of foxes
to drive the savage from her sapphire courtyards
knotted hair twisting into a tattered crown
and pooling fire in the depths of being,
the wellspring and heart of Israel
You wooed her with a razorfang romance, and sweet songs of moonrise
every strum of your harp the echoing crash of grenades
and gently rapped upon her windows to whisper
awake, awake
I have come home to you
As they forced you to your knees, your heart soared to its purpose and called the words into the depths of all those children of her valleys,
to beat the drum of freedom,
O’ host of Yaakov, of spear and
iron shield
In that final flash of light was held the echoes of eternity
and though they do not understand
in robbing your soul of
its body the beasts had made their fatal error
For no such phrase there is to you as ’til death do us part
