
Trading lives






These walls speak
Sometimes too choked with fear
To tell us about what happened here
These walls cry
Tears of dried blood from old scars
Of prejudice and pain behind those bars
These walls scream
Of silenced voices and separated lives
Edicts determining who endures and who thrives
These walls hide
Exhumed hatred, resurrected from a bygone era
When masked men darted knives of burning terror
These walls hear
Vitriolic words, disguised in the name of the holy book
Claiming promised lands with a stolen verse as the hook
These walls see
How we cower in shadows when we make that mark
That gives our permission for self selection into the ark
These walls know
Who carries blood and dirt on their hands
When we build new walls to extend divided lands

frozen ribbons lie…
shredded among the debris
of broken baubles,
pulverised stolen lives
hoisting christmas gifts, he thrives.

I heard their silence
in the winds of discontent,
echoes joining in
the growing chorus.
Hoarse coughs and splutters,
cleared blocked passages.
Throttled resonance
found strange bedfellows.
Aching moans and groans
rose in harmonious howls.
Dissenting voices
rising in the air,
leaving trails of dust
on the graves of buried bones.
New songs composed
for fresh winds of change.
I heard those voices,
recognizing yours and mine-
no longer silent
in the breaking dawn.