some
will
build
a wall
out
of flowers and candles,
cards
and tweets,
photographs
and memories,
fears
and tears, a place
where
we can come
and
let our tears drop
into
that river
which
longs to cleanse
the
streets of grief;
some
would
build
a wall
out
of rhetoric and
platitudes, the
old
accusations placed
word
by word to reinforce
suspicions
based on ignorance,
arrogance
grounded in privilege,
beliefs
founded on untruths;
some
long to
build
a wall
around
speech
with
which they disagree,
enclosing
faiths
they
are taught are unbelievers,
between
people who
are
not enough like them;
a
bridge could be
built
between
shattered hearts
and
dreams turned to ashes,
between
those who are misunderstood
and
those who are misinformed,
between
neighbors who have lived there forever
and
immigrants longing for a community,
between
people of all faiths and none
who
share the common commitment
to
peace, justice, love, and hope
but
sometimes
it
is just easier
to
be wall builders.
©
2017 Thom M. Shuman
