a world apart, i stood
where two universes had divided,
where a wall had fallen, crumbled
into dust and ashes of
the men who had attempted
to cross it;
with all their might and desperation
risked their lives so that
their children might one day
see freedom
with their wide wondering eyes
of naïveté and joy.
a world apart i stood,
desperately clinging to their stories:
their martyrdom;
the names i would never know;
the stories that would go
untold with nobody who knew
them, nobody to tell them
anymore.
a world apart i stood
watching the snowfall in
berlin, dampening the streets
where the death strip once
tore life from the innocent
in the name of separation;
the falseness of east and
west.
a world apart i stood,
glad that it was no more.
This was written shortly after my first trip to Berlin last year. The sacrifices people made in order to escape to the West was something that really touched me; the accidental martyrs the Wall made out of people who only ever wanted to be free. This poem is for Peter Fechter, who I hope is finally at peace and free, wherever he may be.
