Theme: Wisdom

Shell collecting on a beach in Gaza

Each day was filled with gilded tales

Of Phoenician galleys and Nabatean merchants

Seleucid sailors landed here as did the avaricious Ptolemies

These very sands seem to be the guardians of time.

 

Amble along this coastline, pause and listen

Hark, hear distant history lapping Levantine shore

Soothed by the scent of thyme on the wind

As driftwood I’ve often lain here dreaming

 

Roman oil lamps once lit the way

Hellenistic whores beguiled and sang

I imagine Caesar’s legions took their ease

Caressed by zephyrs and thoughts of home.

 

Yet now they have defiled this place

Herodian infamies tear open our minds

And cram them with cordite anointed corpses

Of innocents massacred by the wrath of Judah

 

One day we will gather the other shells again

Pray for Huda Ghaliya and those yet to come

‘Tis time to hold out the olive branch

And for all to re-discover the Wisdom of Solomon.

 

 

Written to mark the occasion when Israeli Defence Force shells landed on a beach near the municipality of Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip on 9th June 2006. Seven Palestinians were killed and over thirty people injured.

 

01-Aug-2019

More By  :  Mark T. Jones

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