Holly Wall Poem by Showkat Ahmad Wani

This wall of iron spans beyond the yard,
It halts the steps that seek the world apart.
It burns the thread of blood to ash and dust,
And stills the trembling pulse of brother's trust.
This wall that bars my bird of grief from me,
And turns my lucid joy to endless woe,
This wall that seals the hearts in hollow tombs,
And strips the hues of childhood's common lap.
It plants the seed of self in stones unblessed,
It cleaves the mother's lap to shattered dust,
Dividing flesh with fractures deep and cold.
It moans within the father's mournful breath,
And casts the shade of night on trembling souls,
Among the sacred cries of kin undone.
He weeps to see his brood with childlike hands,
With childlike hearts, with childlike steps and tongue.
This wall that chokes the scent of love and bread,
And starves the voice that longs to whisper peace.
We feast beneath the wall where others starve,
We breathe beneath the wall where others fade,
We love beneath the wall where others hate,
We smile beneath the wall where others weep,
We live beneath the wall where others die.
Think not this wall a wall, but chains unseen,
That binds my earth to me, my sky to me,
That binds my light, my shadow, and my soul,
That binds my kin, my world, and all myself—
Think not this wall a wall, but chains unseen.
(2019)