Jerusalem

“Jerusalem” is a poem about the connections between people rather than their separateness. The opening quote, “Let’s be the same wound if we must bleed,” poses a metaphor that shows the way violence between people creates “the same wound.” In a paradoxical way, two factions that fight one another create a pain that affects both sides, making them closer because they share a common experience. Both sides also suffer, and while causing the opposite faction to suffer, they create their own suffering. In this way they make “enemies” of themselves. This is the situation that the people of Jerusalem find themselves in, the speaker implies, because the different sides are inextricably connected.

This is especially true in the city of Jerusalem. The Abrahamic religions which all view Jerusalem as a holy city are intertwined historically and in terms of their mythology. Christianity rose out of Judaism, and Islam, which derives from both Christianity and Judaism, preaches that Jesus is a holy prophet. All three religions spring from the same region and share some of the same beliefs, dating back to Exodus. In Jerusalem, pilgrims from three religions come to the site of the Foundation Stone, which all three groups believe is the stone that started the world.