Beloved Israel.
Time is breathing out
Centuries of abuse and victimization
Brothers separated by the foggy veil of suspicion.
Oh, Isaac,
Not like an innocent child
Turn aside the next page of history
Imagine the Middle East as the center among civilized nations.
Take this opportunity
as you lie at the moment
between the last inspiration
and the next taste of sweet Jerusalem air.
by a world of double standards
has left you stiff-necked and confused.
Partners at odds being swallowed by the same whale.
reach across the unknown, and take the hand of Ishmael.
nor like Nations short on perspective and narrowed in vision,
but as a family with choice between extinction and light.
and re-write the scenario.
A path for the prophets of the future.
to exist alongside each other in collective pride.
In time there will be trust, and one day love will follow . . .
as an artifact cleared and awakened by desert winds.
Gary Gordon is a founding member of Building Bridges, Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Duluth, Minnesota, who learn together and hold workshops on their belief in the inevitability of peace in the Middle East. Gary can be reached by e-mail at ggordon@css.edu.