The Walls

What are you looking for,
My friend?
Is it the boundary line
Between your plotAnd my plot?
Or, is it a place to erect
An infallible wall
Between your home
And my home?
Do you remember:
Until recently,
Your courtyard overlapped mine
Your kitchen garden partly covered mine
Your kids were no less than my kids
Your attempts were my bids
Your sorrows were my tears
And your concerns were my fears?
But how come
As we moved to this
Thick forest of concrete
I am no more a welcome visitor
As the high walls around your home
Prevent me to enter your compound
And there are higher walls
Of selfishness
And a chasm of discrimination
You are white and I am black
You are high and I am low
I have a hut and you, a bungalow
But, can't it be so
That both of us better know
It is good to live as brothers
And let all the grudges go?

Arjun is an English Teacher at Manakamana Higher Secondary School in Jorpati, Kathmandu.

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