Jerusalem
Nationalities
Tied to religions
And religions
Anchored in a location
Search for meaning
In history and folklore
Life in all forms
Dots the barrenness of the Andean
And celebrates
Human endeavour, perseverance and belief
While paranoia intermingles with
Shifting physical boundaries
And tense co-existence of diverse cultures
With paper wishes stuffed in its crevices
The Wailing Wall mourns
More than the death of the sea
Even as it helps hands reach out to divinity
While feet trample on wishes
That lost the battle for space in the crevices
And are strewn on the ground
Traversing
Undulating cobbled roads of multiple ethnicities
That cover ancient civilizations
Cleanses the souls of at least the believers
Just as a float in the Dead Sea
And a paste of its soil
Cleanses the bodies of the believers and the non-believers alike!
Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. Picture taken by the author on December 17, 2018