A Tale of Two Cities

A wall rose up to trap ideas
And trapping people too,
Those who stayed became the East

Those who fled the few.
Written in the blood of hope

Martyr’s to the West.
They came they saw they cried

They chose which one was best.

They saw a world unlike their own

They flew the dreaded nest;
The Iron Curtain was a time
A statement clear and bold

People talk and words have wings

Words are hard to hold.

Demolished by the cries of change,
Its past is passing still
Ruined shards like ghosts remain

Another world, a Stonehenge full of pain.

Now monuments of iron and stone

Weight heavy on its past,

From Postdam to Potzdamerplatz

The change is infinitely vast.

The curtain’s gone the chains undone

The city smiles again,
And museums grander than before,

With pillared domes remain

One eyed Nefertitti, watches from her tower

Nebucanezza shimmering Gate,
A monument to power.

I stare and see no lessons learned

No war has ended sweet,
No sacrifice to God or Stone
Is worth the endless weep.

Berlin stands divided still

Welcoming and kind,
It’s history of such ill-will

Is not difficult to find.

 

 

Berlin 2017