Let us build...

A BRIDGE OF PEACE

"They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,

and none shall make them afraid." (Micah, 4.4)

My Arab sister,

Let us build a sturdy bridge

From your olive world to mine,

From my orange world to yours,

Above the boiling pain

Of acid rain prejudice—

And hold human hands high

Full of free stars

Of twinkling peace

I do not want to be your oppressor

You do not want to be my oppressor,

Or your jailer

Or my jailer,

We do not want to make each other afraid

Under our vines

And under our fig trees

Blossoming on a silvered horizon

Above the bruising and the bleeding

Of poison gases and scuds.

So, my Arab sister,

Let us build a bridge of

Jasmine understanding

Where each shall sit with her baby

Under her vine and under her fig tree—

And none shall make them afraid

AND NONE SHALL MAKE THEM AFRAID.

Ada Aharoni, "A Bridge of Peace"Not In Your War Anymore (1997)

Notes: An earlier version of "Bridge of Peace"appeared in A Song to Life and World Peace(Selected Essays and Poems Presented at the XIII World Congressof Poets of the World Academy of Arts and Culture), Edited byAda Aharoni, Mike Scheidemann, John Dicks, & Ezra Ben-Meir,Posner & Sons, Jerusalem, 1993, p. 16

More poetry from my interweb wonderings.