the tel-Aviv

Secular heart

for secular Israel.

Sand  dune beaches

flowing

with Mediterranean blood

lend life and song

to the Jewish soul.

©jfrancis

   1.1.6

Ancient Jericho

City of fallen walls

and Rahab,

whose redemption

opens the pages of faith

to Messiah

and Grace.

©jfrancis

  4.17.5

Evicting Gaza

Jews removing Jews

from the land.

Gaza, once again

shifting sand.

©jfrancis

  8.18.5

Time,

swept along on human emotion,

becomes a delicate tapestry

woven through the day

then stitched with silver thread

into the night time sky

as proof of its passing.

©jfrancis

   1.1.6

Leaving Gaza

for the Peace of Jerusalem.

Walls persuade secular man

to move earth

and leave Heaven

for the piety of angels.

One day soon

Philistines will appear

a new clan of Judah.

Walls will fall

in heaps of broken pride.

Gaza will arise

On a Spirit of Grace

no longer the sea people

of Delilah’s heart.

©jfrancis

  5.28.5

Zion

(ism)

Jerusalem hill,

pregnant

with Jewish history.

Laboring

to birth G-d’s vision

of a complete people,

Abraham’s children,

wed to the land

and each other.

© jfrancis

    1.31.6

April 17, 2006

(telaviv)

The sirens call

and duty demands

come

now is the time

to give eternity

our heroes.

©jfrancis

4.17.6

Poetic Inspiration

fuels the spirit

accelerates the mind

producing a rush

of literary brilliance*,

word on word,

in perfect order

a collage

of sensory expression

painting the mind

with surreal images.

jfrancis

 4.16.6

note: ‘brilliance’ is a relative term.

Back to Genesis

Intelligent

designer clouds

dripping moisture,

the milk of heaven

and honey of earth,

covering

a multitude of sinners

who wait

for the latter reign

of heaven’s creator

jfrancis

8.13.6

Surrogate Victim

The pungent 

drip of victory

leaks from vein 

and life

across cobbled concrete,

a gift

from free radicals

to the cellular life

 of Lebanon.

jfrancis

8.20.6

The Time of Benaya's Rain

The poetic form of prayer found on a dead

IDF soldier named Benaya Rein.

May your dear will,

G-d and L-rd of our fathers,

erase war

and spilling of blood evermore.

Overshadow this world

with great

and wonderful peace,

that nations

learn war no more,

neither hatred, deceit

or spitefulness.

Let all residents of earth

know ultimate truth:

that we come

to this world

to recognize and know G-d,

the blessed one

of Israel.

jfrancis  9.29.6

Reflections

Death

is an accumulation

of insults

to the human

spirit/body.

Jfrancis©     

6.27.7

Natural Reflection


We are He

who designed us

in His image

to explore

His infinite

Design.



jfrancis

1.28.8

Stripped
 

Gaza___

is her people,

sons and daughters

washed ashore

for the aged land

to imprison

with the sand

at their feet.


jfrancis

1.18.8

The Poor

We have with us always,

G-d’s masterpiece

of creation,

the backdrop

of all humanity

without which

the bright stars

no longer shine,

a bridge between

Love and Charity.



jfrancis



2.22.8

On Holocaust Day

How do we measure

memories,

laid end to end,

across creation’s timelessness?

One by one

into the face of eternity.

©jfrancis

5.2.8

The Lemon Tree

(and bitter sweetness)

Love is not

the last petal

of daisy’s blossom.

Love is

the eternal affliction

of the human heart.

jfrancis

6.9.8

The Definition of Love

Love has no definition.

Yet 

brings reason to the mind,

faintness to the heart,

an inconsolable desire

to touch

the other life

with permanence.

©jfrancis

9.12.8

Firstfrost

Frozen in life

the swift death comes

to field and glen

where expectations

never exceed

October.

jfrancis

10.25.8

photo by Mary R. Carroll\