Walls

When we were children...we would run and hide.
Often beaten and battered....when we hid we cried.
Dad was supposed to love us.
Surely Mom would protect us.
So instead we built around us a wall,
Sometimes short and sometimes tall.
No one could reach us...not even to love.
In order to see us, they had to peek from above.

When we got a little bit older
We still needed a hug, a kiss or just a shoulder.
We met someone new who pushed and shoved,
Forced us to do something we thought was love.
Now we’re going to have a daughter or maybe a son.

Who do we turn to...where do we run?
Some call us killer, some call us whore!
Isn’t there anyone who loves us anymore?
So up comes the wall...it’s grown even taller.
As it grows and grows...we feel smaller and smaller.

Now that we’re older, we’re supposed to have more choices.
Instead what we hear are hateful and ugly voices.
There are things we see and hear and fear.
We begin to wonder...is there any love here?
This one is hated because of the color of his skin.
That one is beaten because she has foreign kin.
This man loves other men and that one’s a Jew.
Many use their religion to justify the harm they do.
So now we all have walls to protect us from each other.
They are so high, we can no longer see one another.

These walls we built...they are so high
When we look up they seem to reach the sky
But walls don’t go up to heaven, this I know
This I’ve learned when to worship I go
There I have learned of an unconditional love
A love that comes to each of us from above
God’s holy spirit creeps over the wall
No matter how big, no matter how small
It finds you and enters your heart
That’s where it begins...
Our brand new start!

©K Tomlin 2000
All Rights Reserved.

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