Into the arid space between earth and sky,
the cracks of the human soul seep. They fill

with hail of stones from the Temple Mount,
the Wafq’s iron door slammed, barring Jews

who wish to pray in small circles of ten,
their blue fringed shawls worth lives

of 69 martyrs — if only the shawls stay
folded, unused and grow drenched

with suicides’ blood. Stones play well
in the press. So come puppet children

and hurl them. My poor little slaves
of hate, make of my Iago a saint.

Note: The Waqf is the body of Muslim clerics to which Israel gave control of the Temple Mount in 1967 out of respect for Muslim belief—although it is Judaism’s holiest site, where the Second Temple stood until its destruction in 70 A.D. The Waqf has long denied access to any minyon—the minimum of ten men required by Jewish law to offer prayers. In May, 2000 it began destroying Second Temple remains as well.

First published in Neovictorian/Cochlea, winter, 2001

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