Have You Ever Seen Jerusalem?

by Joseph Zitt (1993)

Have you ever seen a storm like this before?
Have you ever seen Jerusalem?
The spark that there ignited Psalms
        here beget the blues.
Clouds that once spelled among their folds
        unspoken names of God
Form here white against the sky
Exploding lilies in unfocused bluebonnet seas.

Have you ever seen hills like this before?
Have you ever seen Jerusalem?
They rise and roll and shelter heroes
Breasts of the Presence sloping toward
        Masada or the Alamo
Filled with trees that reach 
        to heaven and to clouds
That hide their peaks and whisper future storms.

Have you ever seen a life like this before?
Have you ever seen Jerusalem?
These storms and clouds may harbor
        stranger, newer gods than there.
But still there studies and these prayers
        find their rewards
As molten scales and oriental monodies
Unite the people of the proudest fringe 

In undisguised embraces
Lines of light and lines of dancers
Wires run to ancient walls
And neon tears expose their secrets
Muezzins and muted chords
Match their voices to the visions
Sunset zaydes, bubbas sip their
Tall teas and their wine and swear:

If I forget,
Let my left hand lose its bar chords
Let my tongue never taste again
        the sacrificial mesquite smoke
        of tin shack temples' barbecue
If I forget,
Let my dreams, at least, always return
        to Austin and Jerusalem,
The cities that forever will be home.