The Road From Avalon Poem by Sue Oxley

The road from Wells to Avalon is built on Abbey stone
They hacked it out and cut it down and covered it with tar
And pictures of Our Lady
And the saints in all their glory
Are just hidden underneath the wheels of cars.


The road from here to Babylon is built on lies and dust
And young men die in foolishness for martyrdom and fame
The hatred pulses and survives
As bombs and guns destroy more lives
While dreams of Paradise are held to blame.


From Berlin to Jerusalem it's built on blood and pain
We watched them walk from Ravensbruck, then gave them others' land.
For 60 years the dispossessed
Have been angry with the foolishness
No desert blooms with guns not glory in your hands.


From anywhere to the Holy Land, the road is not this way,
For It takes some kind of God inspired love to make a peace
And Jew and Arab need to hold
Their hands open, to overflow
Not blood but brotherhood, to make war cease.