To Live A Dream
It is made of bricks
this Wall in the middle of our silences
it is made of bricks
which once were hidden
under the earth in the form of
sand, rock and dirt
and hidden under the human race were
distrust and prejudice and greed
until one day
they were extracted and amassed and
shoved together
into these red bricks of hatred.
someone set the first red brick down
between the fingers of black and white
and once there that red brick stood
this Wall quickly followed
men and women
armed with shovels of menace
and trowels of mistreatment
piled brick after red brick
injustice after red injustice
until this Wall of hatred stood
to the clouds
many say that
this Wall is gone now
that one brave man
took his foot and
burst the bricks
in two
but this Wall
is the echo in the silent wake of our unspoken words
is the brutal beating of our undone deeds
this Wall still firmly stands
and that one brave man
didn’t pound this Wall down
he didn’t pound
no didn’t pound
he climbed
bloody step by step
to the clouds
where he sat atop this Wall
and declared
‘look at what we could be’
he left us
with ladders
of justice and ropes
of peace
so that we,
men and women
too might climb this Wall
so that we,
men and women
might take up that
first red brick,
wear down the hatred
and hide it back
under the earth
so that we,
men and women
will wash away what
we once built up
it’s not the task of black nor white
but the task of us together
of taking away a brick
separating us from neighbor
and our neighbor
taking a brick that
separates them from us
and once this Wall
of distrust and prejudice and greed
has turned into a
house of love and integrity
a house
of love and integrity
then we might say
we have lived this dream.