Walls of Aggression, Walls of Separation

Walls of Aggression, Walls of Separation

Shahin Shabanian

– Artist’s Website –
Once, our ancestors roamed around Earth free
There were no fences, no walls, just valleys and trees
Then, came fences and walls of all sorts
Around castles and forts.

Castles and forts, they built with walls around
To control who goes and who comes from beyond
Walls were erected by the powerful to pillage the outside
And to protect their loot by dwelling inside.

I
In china, they built the Great Wall
To protect Chinese empire and dynasty cabal
To steal from nomads living beyond,
Ravaging their lives, for power respects no moral ground.

The Great Wall wasn’t erected
From marauders and invaders to defend
It was a safe haven for those inflicting terror:
To crease empire’s wealth and to project its power.

Yet, the emperor built the Forbidden City,
Inside the Great Wall: a walled imperial entity
Aimed to sustain imperial dynasty, their loot, and all
And to protect the empire from its fall.

Remained the empire with its corrupted crown
Until people from inside, toppled it down
The empire was destroyed with nowhere to crawl
Empires implode from within, with or without the wall.

II
Roman Empire invaded Britannia and conquered the land
Killed those who resisted; made victor’s demand:
The vanquished must pay tribute, slaves they became
Romans built the Hadrian Wall to make the resistance tame.

Northern tribes, “we’ll subdue them,” Romans did shout
By dividing the island to the north and south
Hadrian Wall was built to Divide and Rule
“Barbarians at the gate,” became a metaphor to ridicule.

The Roman walls
Couldn’t save the empire from its fall
The empire imploded by self-destruction
Out of an orgy of greed and corruption.

III
Another affront to humanity, not so tall,
Was the Berlin Wall.
To stop the East mesmerized by the Western call
Russians built the Berlin Wall.

German families divided by east and west
East Germans looking for the western “best”
Contradiction of the Wall weighed heavily on German soul
While America and Russia propagandized its role

“Break this Wall down”
Shouted President Reagan
With pomp and celebration
Humanity was rid of another abomination

Berlin Wall came down
Germans celebrated in every city and town
People shouldn’t be separated by a wall
But soon forgotten was this important call.

IV
“Break this Wall Down”
Defiantly denounced President Reagan
But we kept erecting our border wall
And the world saw this to be hypocritical

To stop the immigrants from south,
Forbidding from entry, we keep them out.
To our side of the wall, you can’t enter
You must stay as a corporate cheap labor.

For your farms and products, we set the price
Even if you cannot eat in a day, twice
You shall work for pennies instead of a dollar
You cannot protest and holler.

Our dictators enforce no union on every shop
Or our death squads kill from bottom to the top
Violence and drugs help us to sell arms
You must stay and work for us in factories and farms.

V
Israel built its Wall of Apartheid
To oppress Palestinians with pride
Stealing their water, uprooting their olive trees
To prevent them from living free.

Killing their adults if they protest
Jailing their children without an inquest
The world has closed its eyes once again
Forgotten its promise of “Never Again.”

History of imperial conquest
Doesn’t bear witness to the best
For aspiring empires, devoid of sight
Grave of history is filled with their might.

Lest, Israel didn’t learn from Rome
That ambition of empire caused its gloom
Empire and democracy, no nation can be both
They are contradiction, a citizen should note.

For aspiring empires in the Middle East
There is no future that can exist
Empires have gone to the dust
Arrogance of power brought them their bust.

VI
Those who build walls separating humanity with fright;
Frightening us from hordes coming at night,
Are thieves, who profit from our fears with delight
They dwell inside, while robbing us in daylight.

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