The Great Wall of China was built to protect the realm
from foreign invaders,
using a colossal mass of soldiers and stone-
Hadrian’s wall was constructed to defend the far reaches of the
Roman empire against the endless diaspora of barbarian hordes that
roamed the depths of the uncharted-
stone walls were used successfully at Fredericksburg and Gettysburg
to conceal troops from the enemy until the time was ripe to fire-
walls-
we build them to defend-
we build them to conceal-
we build them to protect-
we build them to hide-
we hunker down behind them as a cover from the known and the
unknown-
protection from the elements,
from our foes,
from ourselves,
from life itself-
from the outside world and all of its sting-
but when do they come down?
some walls last for centuries, some for thousands of years,
partial and full-
some stand nearly as stout and strong as the day they were
born,
while others lay in crumbled ruin, long toppled by the whim of age and
time-
buried under the dirt and rock and sediment of change-
some walls were not meant to be breached, while others
should never have been constructed in the first place-
others stand as a testament to the fears that we carry with us
from year to year,
those fears that pound our walls in waves like foreign invaders
in search of the treasures of our keep*