This is the last week we are going to be concentrating on peace and conflict issues, so I thought instead of writing a normal blog, I would let you guys read a poem that I wrote when I lived in Israel. I think many of you are confused by the Arab Israeli conflict. It is very difficult to understand. I don't understand it all all, even myself. I hope this poem will help you to understand some of the emotions people feel when they are in Jerusalem. If you have any questions about the poem, please don't be shy - you can email me!

Jerusalem

I never asked to love you
With your stones soaked in blood
And fantastic dreams of peace
That can only cause war

If I had known
That your embrace
would have destroyed me
Perhaps I would have refused the bliss
That blinded my reality
Clouded my consciousness
With unrealized fantasies
Of temples and rocks

That mean everything
That mean nothing
That are now part of me
The part I cannot get rid of
The part that clogs my heart

With choked disappointments
That suffocate its beating
With exponential intensity
That increases with each torn body
The mangled wrecks of lives
Sacrificed again and again
On an alter of madness
To which you have compelled me to worship
With a greed that belies your beauty

The beauty that drew me in
And now will not let go
Until we are all destroyed
Or your promise comes true

by Scott Douglas, 2001.