Brick by brick, tile by tile
We built a wall which stretched for miles
Each piece was laid with silent rage
And mortared with resentment
Sometimes I’d feel you trowelling there
Upon your side, with extra care
Ensuring all the seals were fixed
All holes surely cemented

Our wall it started with one word
One slight misunderstanding
But then it grew and each brick laid
Continued the compounding
Until it stretched from here to there
One horizon to nowhere
Our wall it stretched, it wove and weaved
Beyond all understanding

Each brick a word
Each tile a hurt
The mortar, when we’d felt unheard
And each of us upon our side
We worked upon the wall

The bricks once small to manage
Began to grow in size
Until the effort to construct the wall
It made us tired
And sometimes we would double back
And find a brick we’d laid
And carve a pattern in it
With such purpose to dismay

As the wall grew long and wide
We started on the height
We’d build it up to hide the sun
We’d work both day and night
Until the only good to find
Was resting in the shade
Of the wall of words and spite
We had so deftly made

Each brick a word
Each tile a hurt
The mortar, when we’d felt unheard
And each of us upon our sides
We worked upon the wall

One day a little crack appeared
A shaft of sunlight did reveal
A glimmer and a promise
The hope of new contentment
You from your end, I from mine
We met at last on either side
We laid our trowels upon the ground
Exhausted and repentant

I placed my hands upon the bricks
I sensed you do the same
And then we pushed with all our might
And felt the wall give way
Our wall that stretched from here to there
To dust it crumbled, fine and fair
And now it’s only ruins of the ramparts
That remain

Each brick a word
Each tile a hurt
The mortar, when we’d felt unheard
Now each of us upon our sides
We work upon the wall

© Kacey Patrick 2012 (September 29th)