Acrylic on board 24" X 34"  1981

Bound for Glory: A Children’s Jubilee poem.

Leviticus 25: 23. The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, 

for the land is Mine; you are but aliens and sojourners with Me.  

Jesus is coming to america

By caravan and convoy

Singing peasant songs

And hip-hop psalms

Jesus loves the little children

Abiding in this dangerous land

Jesus riding on top of the bus

Doing magic tricks

And telling stories

Eating papusas and cold tamales  

Speaking good news to the poor

Stretching out his arms

His body swaying with the motion of the bus

Jesus shouts into the wind

I am the good shepherd

Follow me all who are weary and heavy laden

Core, Core, niños, y vuela!’

And then after many days

They all saw it

*THE GREAT WALL*

IT was GIGANTESTICO!

From a thousand miles away they saw the Wall

From a hundred miles away they saw the Wall

From ten miles away they saw the Wall 

The Great Wall reached to heaven

Workers still piled more stone upon stone

More twisted steel and barbed wire

More broken glass

Cameras

Guns 

But on the seventh Sabbath of Sabbath years

On the seventh day of the seventh month at the

Seventh hour of the seventh day

Jesus stood before the Great Wall

Blowing a mighty Shofar

‘FEAR NOT!’

Jesus assured the children

‘Today is the event of Jubilee’

‘Fear not’

Jesus told the border guards, ‘freedom is at hand’  

‘Fear not’

Jesus shouted to the fearful prisoners trapped behind the Wall

Let your hearts be filled with joy

I am good news for the poor

I set prisoners free

I Send the rich away empty

I cause the blind to see and the lame to walk

Everyone’s debts will be forgiven

No more banks or usury

Homes and lands will be returned to

Their first peoples

Widows and orphans will have a favored portion

Rejoice! Rejoice!’

Th poor and the sick began praising God

The widows began praising God

The children began praising God

Mariachi bands began praising God

Street vendors selling chicharrones began praising God

Prostitutes began praising God

Truck drivers began praising God

Drug addicts began praising God

The rocks began praising God

Cockroaches began praising God

Police dogs began praising God

But the border guards did not praise god

And the gate stayed shut 

The guards growled at the children

You can not cross the Wall

Your papers are not in order

Your skins are too brown

Your language is foreign

Your customs are strange

Your laughter is painful to our ears

Your songs are not our songs

Your foods are unfamiliar

Your needs are too great

Your god is not our god

Our god is fat

Your god is skinny

Our god is rich

Your god is poor

Our god is strong

Your god is weak

Our god is plush

Your god is wretched

Our god blesses and protects us

Your god abandons and despises you

Our god is a mighty warrior

Your god is a helpless victim

Then Jesus got pissed

And as he looked up into the surveillance cameras

The Spirit came upon him and he opened his bible

Prophesying from the book of Ezeckiel:

“The day of the Lord has come

Not one stone of this wall will rest upon another

All shall be stuck down

With great vengeance and furious anger

For the rule of the proud and selfish 

The tyranny of evil men is finished

Though the path of the righteous is beset with tribulations 

Your deliverer comes in the name of charity and good will

A protector of the innocent and the finder of lost children

Shepherding the lost through the valleys of darkness

And when all of your walls have been torn down

Then you will know

The kingdom of God is among you”

But the border guards murmured among themselves saying:

Who does this Hayzoos think that he is?

Is he not the son of Juan and Concheta

Is he not the son of Pilar and Agipito

Is he not the son of Ofelia and Guillermo

Is he not the son of Pedro and Evita

Is he not the son of Gabriella and Xavier 

Is he not the son of Fatima and Rafael

Is he not the son of Ximena and Esteban

Is he not the son of Jose and Maria

How then does this coyote call himself

*Mesias*

The guards tweeted their sergeants for instructions

The sergeants tweeted the captains for instructions

The captains tweeted their generals for instructions

The generals tweeted their president for instructions

Their president tweeted the other PRESIDENT 

KEEP THE GATES CLOSED, the president tweeted the president

Keep the gates closed the president tweeted the generals

Keep the gates closed the generals tweeted the captains

Keep the gates closed the captains tweeted the sergeants

Keep the gates closed the sergeants tweeted the guards

The gates stay closed, the guards told Jesus

Jesus wept.

And because of their unbelief

He could do no more miracles there

So he drove himself into the desert to fast and pray

All the children followed behind him

Pacing the wall as it cut the earth

They walked West for 40 days in the hot sun

Feet blistered, skin burned, lips cracked,

They encountered wild beasts and manifold temptations

Many were close to despair

When they came to the place

Where the wall ended at the deep sea  

‘Mira!’ said Jesus

The great wall is ended

Only the sea blocked their path

Jesus stood silently praying on the shore

The children murmured among themselves

Will Jesus turn and go back?

Will he part the sea?

Will he cause the ocean to run dry?

Will a boats miraculously appear?

Will angels come to carry us across?

Will he walk over the water?

Jesus heard his children’s questions

His heart was filled with compassion for them

He blessed their courage innocence and faithfulness

‘Today you shall be with me in paradise’ he promised them

Then Jesus took one great step forward

His foot hovered over the brooding water

He leaned forward into the wind

As his toes just pierced the surface

The children gasped as they prayed

But

The sea did not part

No boats appeared

No angels came

His foot sank into the soft sand

Ooze squished between his toes 

Jesus turned with a big smile and said to the children:

SIGUEME!

(Follow me!)

And they all did.