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.