I can not write because somewhere in the Israeli Colony
of Palestine they are building roads
for Israelis only
and fences twenty feet high
and I believe in Israel
I can not write because somewhere in the American Colony
of Iraq they are building bridgesof hate
and opportunities for oil companies
with a private army
and I believe in America
I can not write because somewhere in Israel
Christians are made to wait like cattle in a feed lot
to return to their own homes
and I believe in Israel
I can not write because somewhere in America
nameless souls are held without habeas corpus
and tortured in the name of peace
and I believe in America
I can not write because I remember the White Papers
and the Declaration of Independence
as the seeds of freedom
I can not write because I remember the history of hate
and see it blooming again
a noxious weed in a field of poppies
When will the signs go up on the water fountains
if there is to be water in Palestine
and I believed in Israel
When will the curfew come to my neighbourhood
or the secret police
and I believed in America
When will the religious right change its name to Al Qaeda
so we will recognize them for what they truly are
and I believed in America
When will Zealots demand not settlements
but death for non-settlers
so we can call them as they have called their persecutors
and I believed in Israel
I can not write because I grieve
I mourn the world they leave us
my tears a lake of frozen hope
