Jerusalem the Golden

You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to favor it; the appointed time has come.
For your servants hold its stones dear, and have pity on its dust.

✙ Ps 102:13-14 ✙

Psalm 102:14 was referenced in a beautiful song* by a Uruguayan singer of Jewish decent named Jorge Drexler. And so I'll meditate on this song today (you'll need to watch the video for a few seconds to see what's up with the black screen)...

There's a lament for every wall in Jerusalem the Golden,

and a thousand wasted lives for each commandment.
I'm the dust of your wind, 
and even though I bleed from your wounds
and every beloved stone holds my deepest love,
there's not a stone in the world that's worth a life.

I'm a Jewish Moor who lives with Christians.
|: I don't know which God is mine, nor who my brothers are. :|

There's not a death that doesn't hurt me; 
there's no winning side.
It's nothing but pain and another life leaving this earth.
War is a very poor teacher, 
regardless of which of its disguises you've seen.
Pardon me if I don't pledge allegiance to any flag.
Any chimera is worth more than a pathetic piece of cloth.

I'm a Jewish Moor who lives with Christians.
|: I don't know which God is mine, nor who my brothers are. :|

And I've never given anybody permission to kill in my name.
One man is worth no more than another, 
and if there's a God, that's the way he intended it to be.
The ground that I tread will still be here long after I'm gone. 
There's no doctrine that won't pass away,
and there's no people 
that's never believed itself to have been the chosen people.

I'm a Jewish Moor who lives with Christians.
|: I don't know which God is mine, nor who my brothers are. :|

I'm a Jewish Moor who lives with Christians. 

✙ I hold my homeland to be dear, Lord. But in your love, all lands are dear and all people your children. Help me to love the entirety of your creation, and to think of each person as a sister or brother; in the Name of the One whose blood was shed for all, even Jesus Christ my Lord, who taught me to pray...

*It's called Milonga del Moro Judio, from the album Eco ©2004 Warner Music Latina. A milonga is a genre of music that originated in Argentina & Uruguay. This translation is my own.