"A Story Repeated November 2021


I see two women walking on bare feet
like Ruth and Naomi, widows.
Stripped bare of anything that once
was called their home.
The Middle East as the only reminder
of the Biblical story, two thousands years ago.

The two travel with danger, their constant companion:
Attack by others, men or religious zealots,
deciding the pair's existence on this planet,
that we claim as our home, denying them theirs.
No Boaz in the future, but borders,
piled up everywhere to keep them out.

Have they not suffered enough?
Are they, victims of our war, not worthy
of our reparations, a language we can
bend to benefit our own well being?
Does no one realize, their ancestors
brought forth a Savior, for this needy world?

Jeannet de Jong