Alas, Allah
Alas, Jesus, alas,
alas Allah, alas Mohammed,
love attention
to small laws
holy words
and love translations,
like a taxi
driver lost
in profane visions
and misinterpretations
of lost directions.
Lucky you.
Luck you too.
I found
the necessity
to leave home
to make a fall,
off a Western Wall
and golden rock
inches from all
and the ceilings
of sacred domes
that always seem
to need scaffolds,
craned necks
with cameras hanging
and scuffle of feet
on scuffed floors
more real than
untouchable
madonnas
frozen in stone.
Allah ol’ Judea
Jesus, serious Syria
Mohammed inside
India, Christ's in
Kodiak, Alaska
Allah's in steel country
Bloomington Indiana.
The fires of furnaces,
Mary mother of
Guatamalan sewers,
the faces of
desire in girls
in sinful skin
and fantastic
Catholic secrets
in the Buddha.
Jesus, alas, alas Allah,
alas Mohammed,
love’s attention
to small laws
over city gates
with territorial guards.