Walls

 

 

Walls, walls, walls

Walls of every sort and fashion,

Walls of division and derision

Walls to create separation.

 

Ethnic walls, religious walls

Walls to promote racial slur,

Physical walls, walls imagined

And any other kind preferred.

 

Tall walls and long walls

Walls that go down very deep,

Very difficult to dig under

Impossible to climb, too steep.

 

Fenced in, strong barricades

Walls that cannot be breached,

All outside must stay outside

But keep inside within reach.

 

Walls of colour, walls of class

Stay clear of these dividing lines,

A couple of these walls around today

Remind us of biblical times.

 

 

A city’s strength lay in its walls

As in the case of Jericho,

Tall and broad and deep as well,

A discouragement to any foe.

 

However, today it is different

Well, with one major exception,

No need to mention it, you’d agree

They are bent on its erection.

 

The Wailing Wall is still a fact

The Berlin wall came down,

Today’s focus is not physical walls

But the dividing walls around.

 

Walls erected in our minds

To keep our brothers at bay,

Walls for the powerful and the wealthy

Nothing much the poor can say.

 

All men are brothers, we often say

And we even sing it in a song

But erect walls to keep him out

And we can’t see that this is wrong.

 

The greatest wall is selfishness

The scourge of the human race

And our plunge to degrading depths

Has now become commonplace.

 

Walls, walls, all kinds of walls,

Unaware we’re cutting our own throats,

The destitute and the filthy rich

Are going down on the very same boat.

 

 

A word to the wise is sufficient

It matters not from whom it comes,

Build bridges now instead of walls

And so much more can be done.

 

You may have read in the Word

Of the middle wall of partition,

Between the Gentile and the Jew

There was great contention.

 

But Jesus’ cross was the bridge

That obliterated the middle wall,

Now it matters not the differences

Once we respond to his call.

 

The call to unity in Jesus Christ

Has broken down all these walls,

His peace has made us one in him,

Why not respond to his call?

 

Stewart Russell © July 2019