Author, editor, attempter of this thing called life. Social anxiety warrior. Re-Connections, a collection of short stories, published with Ocelot Press, 15/10/2025.
The Via Dolorosa is a street in the Old City of Jerusalem, believed to be the path that Jesus walked on the way to his crucifixion. Its name means “Way of Grief” or “Way of Suffering”. The route is traversed by many processions throughout the year and particularly at Easter.
I had fun with the sonnet, so I thought I’d try again. This time I have to write 107 words including:
….I’m exhausted. Shut the door behind you….
Here goes….
He’s making for the door. I don’t blame him, but I was looking forward to this evening so much.
Work was a nightmare today. Then I had to dump everything and rush to collect the kids and Tom had broken his finger so I dragged them all to the hospital, then home for homework and food and stopping them from fighting and they wouldn’t go to bed and I nagged and threatened.
I prepared the meal in a hurry. We ate in silence. I was tired.
And now I can’t keep my eyes open. I’m exhausted. “Shut the door behind you,” I mumble. I think it banged.
The Hebrew University opened in 1925. From 1948, the Mount Scopus campus was cut off from West Jerusalem and another campus was built in Givat Ram. Now both are used by the 22,000 students.
Very close to Jaffa Gate is the Tower of David, a citadel built over 2,000 years ago, destroyed and rebuilt four times. It is now a museum with exhibits depicting the four thousand years of Jerusalem’s history. Sound-and-light performances are held there, as well as other cultural events.
There are many similarities between the Arabic and Hebrew languages. One of them is the word for market. Hebrew: shuk, Arabic: souq.
I’ve never tried this before, but I noticed the challenge this time is to write a 14-line sonnet and felt like trying this afternoon.
It came out a little weird, but here it is:
There was a boy whose name was George.
He was so very bored that all
The cream cakes he did gorge and gorge
Until he was as round as a ball.
His father, despairing, bought him a dragon,
Which ate all the cakes and breathed out fire.
When George went to school he hung his bag on
The dragon’s tail and pulled him with wire.
The dragon became the boy’s only friend.
George’s days the dragon did fill
’til his father, worried, said, “This is the end.
That dragon” – and he pointed – “you must kill.”
If you want to know what George does of late,
He gorges his way through cream cakes on a plate.
Back to the A-Z challenge tomorrow….
The Wohl Rose Park is a public garden located between the Knesset and the Supreme Court and is one of the few such parks in the Middle East. Over 400 varieties of roses are grown here.
The park’s Garden of Nations consists of sections donated by other countries. Each section contains roses that grow in the relevant country.
When I returned home with my camera after visiting the park, I had to snap the roses in our garden. Sorry I can’t post their heavenly fragrance.
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The Jerusalem House of Quality is, according to its website, “a unique artisans center featuring arts and crafts in Jerusalem.”
The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) works to preserve plants, animals and natural environments.
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Its office in Jerusalem is in a beautiful garden – part of the Russian Compound that arose in the nineteenth century and expanded to accommodate the many Russian crusaders in Jerusalem at the time.
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Today the garden contains a permanent display of old agricultural equipment.
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The old city of Jerusalem has been populated for well over three thousand years. During that time it has been ruled by many different people. As the map shows, there are now four quarters: Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Armenian.
The walls of the old city, built in 1538 by Suleiman the Magnificent, contain eleven gates, seven of which are currently open. At the risk of sounding like a tourist guide, I recommend the rampart walk, which provides great views of the old city, as well as areas further afield.
Edit: The map has a mistake that’s very common here. People find it hard to believe that if there’s more than one lion you still say, “Lion Gate.” English!
Miriam Drori, Author