House of Prayer

As Jesus came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”
Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; and he said, “It is written,
‘My house shall be a house of prayer’;
but you have made it a den of robbers.”
Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard. Luke 19:41-48

House of Prayer

My breath is gone from me
the holy mountains are carved up
sold off  to the highest bidder
holy ground for sale and abuse.

There is nowhere we walk
that has not been damaged
by drilling and draining
treating Mother like a cow.

Our prayers as the sun rises
fall on broken and desecrated ground
the bones of our ancestors unearthed
so that people can keep moving.

They keep moving so they cannot hear
the prayer songs of morning
the raw earth crying out at noon
to the Creator for salvation.

What we do to this holy place
becomes mark on our bodies
we are left with out breath
we are dry for the water is gone.