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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  

Authors Website: jeffmccallum.squarespace.com

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