Wall Woodpeckers
Let us not forget
Berlin, the wall
Of 28 years
-Cold War
-Communism
-escapism
To democratic
Capitalist
West
With watchtowers
And anti-vehicle
Trenches
-guard dogs
And flood lights
-barbed wires
And trip-wire machine guns
About 130 people died
Trying to cross
-shot or fatally wounded
Or taken by their own hand
After so many failed attempts
-a wall marked by graffiti on the West side
Over 5,000 escapees (out of an estimated 10,000 who tried)
-fled through secret tunnels
-crawled through sewers
-fugitives
J.F.K. stating “It’s not a
Very nice solution,
But a wall is a
Hell of a lot better
Than a war…”
The East wall a
Dumping ground to the West Berliners
-for their trash
And let’s not forget
What was lost:
-dividing friends and families
-loss of jobs and livelihood
Trapped on the wrong side
And to think
-that by mistake
The Iron Curtain
Would come down
Nearly 30 years later
Is an epiphany
-a wake-up call
I wish we
Could see
Now and not
Later…