Peacemaking World Peace

“The Land that Never Sleeps” — a cry for peace in the Middle East

The Land That Never Sleeps

By Nada Malki (A lady from Mecca)

What is it in that holy ancient land?
That would drive every single man mad?

What is it that the eyes can’t figure?
What is that motivation, that drive, that trigger?

To kill a soul or forsake his own
To hold his ground of his invaded home

Is it the sweet taste of the olive it grows?
Or the scent of thyme as its wind blows?

Is it to honor God, or to attain his own needs?
Is it out of faith, or is out of greed?

A land next to Egypt which lies so small
How can such a land blind them all?

Questions lingered for thousands of years
Answers foreshadowed with blood and tears

Cradled by war ever since it was born
Trees so tired from the armor it had worn

Weary hands pulling on its grounds so tight
Shredding its morning and tearing its night

Soldiers march upon its mountains and fields
Lives forsaken as its swords and shields

A land where prophets walked along men
Where Moses received commandments of ten

A land where Jesus gave miracles that led
To healing the blind and raising the dead

A land where Mohammad rose skies of seven
To see what there is of hell and heaven

A land where the first kneel to God was made
A land where the mosque’s first stone was laid

A land where minarets, horns, and bells
Call out to the man who to God he dwells

Jews and Muslims and Christians all together
Different Holy stones on top of each other

Yet here they are, they clash like thunder
Tearing its valleys and mountains asunder

Like rivers of vinegar and water and oil
Looking for a shelter in its holy soil

They kneel to a God with the same name
Yet they blindly fight as if they weren’t the same

See the wounds as old as time
Hear the cries of an unanswered crime

Earth shakes as a man bends to pray
Screams of bombs hold the mind astray

Graves topple the graves from the past
Will there be an end? Will there be a last?

Put down your swords, let go of your guns
Notice the stars, the moon, the sun

Sense their light reaching ocean and land
Admire those miracles much larger than man

Faith you ask? You wonder where it hides?
It’s not in your mosques, or churches, or shrines

From the land of olives to the Amazon trees
From the poles of snow to the sandy seas

His grace is all around; you can grasp it in the air
Moving through time, ever peaceful and fair

So fold your flags, and take off your armor
Put the solider to rest and become the harbor

Release the anger, the pain, and blame
Let go of the differences for we are all the same

All on a journey, searching for his Mercy
Searching for his Love, so rich and holy

He is in a land, not found in any map
It has no nation, no language, no stamp

He is in land, so boundless and true
He is in your spirit, the land within you…