With the recent humanitarian crisis at the southern borders of the US, I began thinking about fences and walls. It occurred to me that we build them to keep things (and people) out, but we often don't consider what we are locking ourselves away from.
Prisoners
He promised you a wall.
There it stands, big and wide, covering the distance between earth and sky, turning the sun into an obsidian reflection.
It keeps the other side from closing in on you. Keeps the vermin from invading your house, Keeps the thieves from taking what is yours. And the murderers with their sharp machetes no longer threaten you.
Beyond the tall panels planted in the hard scrabble, is a tree filled with fragrant hibiscus. You used to watch it bloom. There a grandmother makes mole in a warm kitchen while humming to herself. The smell of heated onions wafts on the breeze and makes your mouth water.
On a hillside of the walled off land, a million butterflies float a bouquet of orange wings, iridescent in the morning sun. A sight so beautiful it would fill your eyes with hope. If only you could witness their flight.
And there, just beyond the parapet where the guard watches down, the barrel of his gun gleaming in sunlight, is a woman with a child in her arms.
A child that would save you if only you could let them in.
He promised you a wall.
There it stands, big and wide, covering the distance between earth and sky, turning the sun into an obsidian reflection.
It keeps the other side from closing in on you. Keeps the vermin from invading your house, Keeps the thieves from taking what is yours. And the murderers with their sharp machetes no longer threaten you.
Beyond the tall panels planted in the hard scrabble, is a tree filled with fragrant hibiscus. You used to watch it bloom. There a grandmother makes mole in a warm kitchen while humming to herself. The smell of heated onions wafts on the breeze and makes your mouth water.
On a hillside of the walled off land, a million butterflies float a bouquet of orange wings, iridescent in the morning sun. A sight so beautiful it would fill your eyes with hope. If only you could witness their flight.
And there, just beyond the parapet where the guard watches down, the barrel of his gun gleaming in sunlight, is a woman with a child in her arms.
A child that would save you if only you could let them in.
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