(In the style of Patience Strong)
Do you recall
The Berlin Wall
And its Israeli counterpart?
*
It is in an innocuous street like this
That such monstrosities start.
'My house', 'my yard', 'my property'
Declared for all to see.
A blocking-out of others;
A desire for privacy.
Now privacy is well and good
In certain times and places;
We all desire some modesty
In very definite cases.
But racism is a very high fence
That's very hard to scale;
And racism results in people
Fighting tooth and nail.
All of us feel a qualm or two
When facing someone 'strange';
Different from us in many ways,
Someone outside our range.
But the putting-up of fences
Is not the way to go.
Start by looking over your fence
And simply saying
'Hallo'.
*
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DECEMBER 2010
(And it still applies, in 2011!)
Oh December, December! Dids't thou forget!
We were promised 'heat' and you've given us 'wet'!
Australia is a drought-and-fire land!
Just now we look as green as Ireland!
Rain! Rain! Rain! We're completely sodden!
We're a dry country! But thou hast forgodden!
*
6 comments:
Good fences make good neighbors, as the saying goes... but I don't think the same applies to giant walls.
Thanks for playing M.M.P.P. again, Brenda!
So well written. I enjoyed this.
FENCES.. great post, so right on..
We hate what we fear, fear of the unknown. Why we don't address the fear and find out what it is? I don't know the answer. But so many jump to hate, instead of knowledge and understanding.
Merry Christmas, in case I don't make it back round your way again before then..
I like this very much: a judicious mix of humour with the serious.
I really like this one. Fences have their place, but that place shouldn't be in our hearts. We need to reach out to each other.
Thanks for sharing.
I remember when the Berlin wall went up and when it came crashing down- fences/walls should be low enough for the neighbors to be good neighbors - hands across the borders so to speak.
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