From Feast upon the Word (http://feastupontheword.org). Copyright, Feast upon the Word.
at the western wall
Ab
1 not half a dozen feet ahead
of me lies dead
what once in breath--
in spirit--gave the ghost in death
2 I marked that death by trav'ling west,
but, sin confessed:
I turned to right,
or turned to left, to shed God's sight
3 my westward walk so far me took
that all my look
a Gentile's was,
for pagan rites arrayed me thus
4 but pilgrimage now me returns,
and my heart burns
at empty meal
as fall my tears in eastward zeal
5 and now I press my lonely hand
against the sand
that presses back
in cold, compacted, stony lack
6 and as I wail forth my cry
(to knee fall I),
I hear hurrahs,
but see not what such shouting draws
7 and so, struck blind by crumbling wall,
I hear the call
to which I can
give no response--O wretched man
8 "there comes a figure robed in red,
raised from the dead"
this much I hear,
though east is veiled as he draws near
9 all justice claims as his abode,
wherein he showed
me once his face,
now stands to block me from his grace
10 the tenth part of the city fell--
slain of men: (me) seven thousand (times)
