Walls are walls everywhere,

Nothing can be built without them;

They divide the house into rooms

Rooms into differently adorned embodiments

We call home;

But walls are also boundaries

We cross one from another,

To enter,

These walls are also geographical boundaries

Within a nation,

Within a state, between a state

That divides cultures and ceremonies

Held differently everywhere;

These walls built of bricks, mortar and concrete

Harden as days roll by:

Strong and binding unlike human beings,

Who live in the same house but remain divided.

The ego survives the spirit

Lying crushed amidst the flames

That rise and glow.

Surprisingly the tolerance of the inmates

Succumbs to the cacophony:

The walls screech to demolish the peace

That initially surrounds the aura of the home…

The home sweet homes turn bitter

As days, pass by;

Regrets do not solve the problem,

Walls grow thicker by the day.

The spirit, forced to crumble

The learned values of the past

Prevent dissolution.

Icicles hang in every nook and corner

Walls are engulfed in their hazy icy mist.

                                                ~Shobha Diwakar

                                                    Jabalpur, India