THE JEWISH STATE OF ISRAEL

The living Jewish State of Israel
The heartbeat of the living God
The full moon in the dark night
The potent sun in the soft skies
Rescued out of existential ashes
To bask upon the Jewish throne
In the roaring of the brave lions
Like some solely textured eagles

Down before you the stars bow
Like the heartbroken water falls
Wailing sorrowfully into the sea
To mourn their defected power
Nesting in the Jewish home land
To lick the fully triumphal boots
Thundering in the Jewish booths
In submission to Jewish masthead

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ODE TO THEODOR HERZL

Your revelation hatched into a vision
Roared through the rugged darkness
Like the hunter’s headlamps at night
To break the secret seal of the deep

The vision nested in clear-cut dreams
Like the full blown mother moonlight
Laying fresh celestial eggs in the sky
To break bars of solitude from the air

Your dreams born to sparkling reality
In the maternity wards of the nights
Where nightmares dare not manifest
In the glittering squares of dreamers

The birth of the modern Jewish nation
Upon the intimidating Mountain Herzl
Swimming nude in the blazing sunrays
Confirms the prophecies of a visionary

It is good morning to your immortal rays
And a good night to your mortal shadow
The crippling universal laughter is buried
In the tomb of the universal celebrations

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GOOD MORNING JEWRY

Good morning Israel
The prosperous land
For the Jewish blood
Birthplace redeemed
Nationality exhumed
Pageant of triumphs

Good morning Jewry
The purposeful race
Covenant conceived
Born in the thickets
Caged in the thorns
Haunted by rockets
Embattled a winner
Empowered to reign

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THE SEA OF GALILEE

It is great to see the Sea of Galilee
With the zeal sealed with marvels
With fishing boats floating friendly
Admired by the lilies of the valleys

The boats are calm in the harbour
Stretched from the dazzling depths
It is great falling in love like Galilee
In the home of the freshwater lake

Under the fully sunny eastern skies
You stretched out your eastern toe
To nurse the wailing Golan Heights
Like the Jews to their wounded foe

It is delightful with the Galilean Sea
Evacuating constipated Jordan River
To preoccupy the barren Dead Sea
With the large scales of fruitfulness

The Sea of Galilee comforts my pen
Like mothers to their ailing children
Now basic poetic rules I have learnt
From her solemn waves of creativity

It is great to sail in the Sea of Galilee
When deadly burdens flag you down
Deeply in the Dead Sea your burden
To repose comatose in all eternity

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NEW SONGS FOR JERUSALEM

Let all drunken with immeasurable joy
Compose new songs for one Jerusalem
The everlasting Jewish nation’s capital
Once lost, found, divided and reunited

Let the true trumpets trade their tunes
Like some doubly triumphant thunders
Let the globe salute the only Jerusalem
Once lost, found, divided and reunited

Let all patriots paint the globe in green
Like the youthful fields in the morning
Hot sweat and blood recovered the city
Once lost, found, divided and reunited

It is new, new and new above the skies
New songs, new nation and a quick city
Friends wholly celebrate the Jerusalem
Once lost, found, divided and reunited

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THE DOME ON THE ROCK OF AGES

The bed of roses rise up in one accord
Like the sea showcasing his dreadlocks
Israel is the bridal ribbon in the sunray
Charming the suitors with her fanfares

The migrant shepherds sell their staffs
For a fortune your bedrocks to procure
To have a sound rest in your eyebrows
Like Jerusalem nursing her triple faiths

Your meadows open the new windows
For the flowers to flow into your tower
Like some high pressure thunderclouds
Fleeing from the embattled eastern sky

The Jewish race has won the final race
And the national flag flying in the wind
Coupled with their anthem in the wave
Embraced by the committee of nations

Israel is the aesthetic nation of the hour
Defined and refined by cruelties of fates
Better than gold from a ruinous crucible
To build her dome upon the rock of ages

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SPARKLING ISRAEL AT NIGHT

The night has spread her curtains
And spelled blackout on the walls
Yet from Haifa’s booming seaport
All about Israel glitters eloquently

Violet stamens upon white petals
In their emblazoned glorious trays
Unveiled the Negev desert’s glory
In mustard seed’s pungent flavour

The beaches celebrate the tourists
To culture the migrant light clouds
On the burdensomeness of beauty
Upon Jerusalem the Jewish capital

The meditative Mediterranean sea
In voice void of contrary landmarks
Echo the Jewish rebranded beaches
Espoused to Tel Aviv Yafo’s courses

Tiberias is a bride on the Galilee sea
Within the touch of human kindness
Nursing the living and kicking tombs
The home front of the departed Jews

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PILOTS IN THE SKIES
(Inspired by General Tomer Bar)

Pilots in the skies, in their styles and in disguise
They were birds in thunderous stainless chains
They were networks of pageants of parachutes
The pilots in the skies over the line of hostilities
Risen from the huge ashes of millions of victims
Carrying their sustained heart rending silent cry
Like the voice of thunder in the highest heavens
The earth trembles, gyrates and vibrates for joy
That Jerusalem the ancient, the holiest of cities
The sweetest motherland of the faithful triplets
Now made whole and quick Israel’s centre piece
The celestial wisdom prevailed on King Solomon
That the sword must refrain from the living child
For him to celebrate at his mother’s breast milk

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THE WIND OF CHANGE

The refreshing wind of change
Birthed from the deep breath of God
The sounds of victory in one Jerusalem
Echoes of triumph across the Jewish nation

The refreshing wind of change
Thunders abroad from the holy land
Gladsomeness embraces the wailing walls
Like the waves espoused to the eternal peace

The refreshing wind of change
From the glaring mountain peaks
To the depths of the lonely Dead Sea
Heralds the victorious songs beyond the skies

The refreshing wind of change
For the dispersed and persecuted race
To reclaim the homeland lost for so long
And send the foes crashing into the deep blue seas

The refreshing wind of change
Birds and airplanes airborne to soar
To unite the four cardinal points as though one
Fountains of rivers rejoicing from the home fronts

The refreshing wind of change
Roared abroad and ripped the clouds
The earth revealed rejoicing in one Jerusalem
The heavenly orchestra unveiled praising God

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© Adeola Ikuomola
Image: Herman Frantzen via Flickr