9th November 2019

 

1961

A wall of shame

cut through a city and a people

a bleak new division:

we and the world turned away

 

1989

A wall fell

remade a city, a people, a history

a bright new union:

we and the world rejoiced

 

2019

Now we fashion

our uniquely British wall

a tragedy of repeated history:

the world wonders, shrugs

 

2047

And I wonder if

my children must wait

twenty-eight years before

the world rejoices again

 

Or shall we spend our time

building more walls?