The Walls

1915, The Mending Walls, Robert Frost
“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall"


1989
it came tumbling down
in a feast of pleasure
and possibilities…
…riots of colors on the free West
the painted wall
now preserved in pieces at the border.

1992
an egalitarian internet browser
tears through the barricades…
…a chain-link reaction of eroding borders
with virtual highways and bridges.

2000
Chinese and East-Indian faces
populate the valley of silicon dreams
east-west differences
melting away in the heat
of hi-tech passions


2002
Israel completes the construction
enclosing more space than occupied
marching ‘forward’
via self-preservation in self-isolation.

yet,
tears and blood flood the wall
overflow into the homes of the world
a category-5 storm of human suffering

2005
my country, my home
steeped in melting pot, salad bowl
metaphors
wants to build a wall
to stop the migration of people
who lay down the bricks everyday
in our backyard—
who is it that we want to keep out,
us or them?


1915, The Mending Walls, Robert Frost (laments)
“Good fences make good neighbors.”