A city separated into quarters
Not all of them free
The wall was built
To hold residents in place
Even as many tried to flee
And were shot down
This wall
Cold, gray, with barbed wire
And pointing inward
Machine guns
It was different than most
It wasn't built for safety
Only to divide
A battlefield of ideologies
As a symbol of repression
A place of broken dreams
Berlin, divided city
Paid the debt for past tyrannies
But the Cold war generation
Didn't get to pick sides
Even as the border guards fired
Some crossed over to freedom
All were brave but not all survived
Crossing over or under the wall
Victory anthem sung by choirs
Freedom and liberty began
As the monstrosity would fall
Hope is more than a desire
Fuel for revolution in the world
So dire
The Germans cried
We are one people, one land
Lighting torches at nightfall
The wall had come down
For one and all
It was gone
History now faded
The bitterness was lost
A new world was found
First people had to believed
Then they had to tear it down
With their spirit first
As an example
For the world
Then hope takes shape
In our minds
Hammers are not enough
It required hope and courage
The earth can change
Even one person at a time
"Walls in the mind often stand longer
than those built of concrete."
Willy Brandt
"The Dream of European Unity"
Awake! magazine, December 22, 1991.
