The U2 frontman Bono described Jerusalem as a "great city" in a note left at his hotel after a visit to Israel earlier this month.

The Irish singer was spotted at a Jaffa restaurant last week, but was in the country on a private visit and did not perform.

However, he did leave an artistic legacy, writing a short poem in the guest book of the historic King David Hotel in Jerusalem.

The poem, published on gossip website Buzz Feed, noted that "in Jerusalem, hope springs eternal".

Bono wrote: "Hope is like a faithful dog, sometimes she runs ahead of me to check the future, to sniff it out and then I call to her: Hope, Hope, come here, and she comes to me.

"I pet her, she eats out of my hand and sometimes she stays behind, near some other hope maybe to sniff out whatever was.

"Then I call her my Despair. I call out to her. Here, my little Despair, come here and she comes and snuggles up, and again I call her Hope."

He signed his comment by thanking the hotel for giving him a "great room" in a "great city".