before the wall
came down,
there were lines
12 hours long
for bread and kielbasa
and nuclear warheads raced
rhetoric east to west,
and back,
and rhetoric won
i sat on a train
westbound,
idling on the left side
of the border
ten 'gestapos' stormed aboard,
black leather boots
knee-high;
stern angled faces
missing smiles;
eyes of winter
and steel,
unblinking - blue,
sending chills through
and through
'you,' he said
pointing at me
open fist
flipping the universal
'come here' sign
60 minutes later
he conceded,
reluctantly
the 15-year old
black face smiling
in the mug shot
on my passport
was indeed - me
not some ****** student
trying to flee
the misery
behind those iron curtains
to freedom
without walls 12-feet high
topped by razor-edged rolls
of barbed wire;
without food lines
12-hours long;
where choice
and opportunity
know no bounds.
~ P
Aug 7, 2016
Aug 7, 2016 at 5:18 AM UTC
before the wall
came down,
there were lines
12 hours long
for bread and kielbasa
and nuclear warheads raced
rhetoric east to west,
and back,
and rhetoric won
i sat on a train
westbound,
idling on the left side
of the border
ten 'gestapos' stormed aboard,
black leather boots
knee-high;
stern angled faces
missing smiles;
eyes of winter
and steel,
unblinking - blue,
sending chills through
and through
'you,' he said
pointing at me
open fist
flipping the universal
'come here' sign
60 minutes later
he conceded,
reluctantly
the 15-year old
black face smiling
in the mug shot
on my passport
was indeed - me
not some ****** student
trying to flee
the misery
behind those iron curtains
to freedom
without walls 12-feet high
topped by razor-edged rolls
of barbed wire;
without food lines
12-hours long;
where choice
and opportunity
know no bounds.
~ P
Request permission to use this poem