Barriers drain strength
From our arms & hearts—²
O Wicked Wall, through whom
I see no bliss, Cursed be thy stones—
O wall, full often hast thou heard my Moans—³
Yonder whispers the lure of the night—
But that Damned Fence Assails our sight!⁴
The Border is an invisible
Line that runs over our Body—⁵
The boundaries of our nation lie within ourselves—⁶
Borders are Invented lines: drawn with Ash on
Maps and sewn into the ground by Bullets …⁷
Wall beyond Wall—
Wavering redefinition of Horizon …⁸
The greatest Punishment for a Tree
Is to become a border post.⁹
The Wall—it’s no higher
Than our Heart.¹⁰
¹ Homer tr. Samuel Butler, The Odyssey
² Laura Hershey, Flights
³ William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
⁴ Anonymous, That Damned Fence
⁵ Christopher Rubio-Goldsmith, Growing Up a Halfie
⁶ Audre Lorde, Bicentennial Poem #21,000,000
⁷ Mosab Abu Toha, Palestine A-Z
⁸ Denise Levertov, Into the Interior
⁹ Yevgeny Yevtushenko tr. Bouis & Todd, On Borders
¹⁰ Ursula K. Le Guin, The Other Wind