CMC Event - October 28th
Title: That which divides us
Prompt: Tear down this wall
Rating: PG for historical stuff
Notes: Another drabble about another poem. It immediately came to mind when I saw this prompt.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go
America remembers when the Wall went up in Berlin, remembers walking right up to it and placing a palm upon it, cementing it in his mind. It was hastily made, thrown up over night, cutting off neighbors, relatives, and loved ones. He remembers wanting to pull it down, stone by stone.
Even though he knows on the other side Ivan won't be there.
So he leaves it. He walks away and attends to other matters. His president is assassinated. There is a space race, and his people walk on the moon. Revolutions and revolts bloom across the globe and still, still the Wall stands.
He corners Russia after a meeting at the UN, makes small talk that is little more than name-calling before remarking on the Wall.
"What is it one of your poets once said? Good fences make good neighbors, da?"
America resists commenting on the sniper towers on the Eastern Side, or the reports of people escaping into Berlin. He remembers barbed wire and mutilated flesh, blood seeping into the ground and inaction.
He walks away again.
They meet again, they talk, the Wall remains. And then a new president comes into office, with a twinkle in his eye and it's one misstep after another, but somehow, it works. He puts into words what America has thought ever since he saw the Wall go up.
Russia is not amused with America's cowboy president. The next meeting he is cold and defensive. Talk is useless and America is frustrated, so he speaks.
"That's a load of bull."
"If you are unwilling to see reason then I suppose it cannot be helped -"
"I'm not talking about this. I'm talking about that damn line you spouted at me. The one about "good fences make good neighbors"."
"I do not understand-"
"No, you damn well don't. If you did, you'd remember the rest of the poem."
He walks away.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out
Two years later the Wall comes down. He watches as it crumbles, stone by stone, happy but wary. He is surprised to find Ivan standing on the other side.
"Thought you'd be in Moscow. Isn't this an internal matter?"
Ivan smiles a strange smile, strained with acceptance and the future. "It is. Still, it is... historic? I thought I should be here to witness it."
They stand for a moment, awkward in the silence. Then Alfred looks to his side. "There's still a bit of wall left. Wanna go pull it down?"
"I do hope you know the difference between witnessing and participating. If word gets back to my bosses..."
Alfred rolls his eyes. "Forget it, then." He tries not to feel disappointed.
Ivan sucks in a breath and pauses, before releasing it with a sigh. "I suppose it would not hurt. But only a small section. And no telling anyone." He adds rather sternly.
Alfred huffs a laugh and grabs a wrist, dragging the larger nation behind him. "Like anyone would believe me."
There where it is we do not need the wall
Notes: The barbed wire and mutilated flesh is in reference to Peter Fechter, one of the hundreds of people who tried to escape from East Germany to West Germany.
The poem is Robert Frost's Mending Wall, and a damn good one. I suggest reading the full version!
Prompt: Tear down this wall
Rating: PG for historical stuff
Notes: Another drabble about another poem. It immediately came to mind when I saw this prompt.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go
America remembers when the Wall went up in Berlin, remembers walking right up to it and placing a palm upon it, cementing it in his mind. It was hastily made, thrown up over night, cutting off neighbors, relatives, and loved ones. He remembers wanting to pull it down, stone by stone.
Even though he knows on the other side Ivan won't be there.
So he leaves it. He walks away and attends to other matters. His president is assassinated. There is a space race, and his people walk on the moon. Revolutions and revolts bloom across the globe and still, still the Wall stands.
He corners Russia after a meeting at the UN, makes small talk that is little more than name-calling before remarking on the Wall.
"What is it one of your poets once said? Good fences make good neighbors, da?"
America resists commenting on the sniper towers on the Eastern Side, or the reports of people escaping into Berlin. He remembers barbed wire and mutilated flesh, blood seeping into the ground and inaction.
He walks away again.
They meet again, they talk, the Wall remains. And then a new president comes into office, with a twinkle in his eye and it's one misstep after another, but somehow, it works. He puts into words what America has thought ever since he saw the Wall go up.
Russia is not amused with America's cowboy president. The next meeting he is cold and defensive. Talk is useless and America is frustrated, so he speaks.
"That's a load of bull."
"If you are unwilling to see reason then I suppose it cannot be helped -"
"I'm not talking about this. I'm talking about that damn line you spouted at me. The one about "good fences make good neighbors"."
"I do not understand-"
"No, you damn well don't. If you did, you'd remember the rest of the poem."
He walks away.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out
Two years later the Wall comes down. He watches as it crumbles, stone by stone, happy but wary. He is surprised to find Ivan standing on the other side.
"Thought you'd be in Moscow. Isn't this an internal matter?"
Ivan smiles a strange smile, strained with acceptance and the future. "It is. Still, it is... historic? I thought I should be here to witness it."
They stand for a moment, awkward in the silence. Then Alfred looks to his side. "There's still a bit of wall left. Wanna go pull it down?"
"I do hope you know the difference between witnessing and participating. If word gets back to my bosses..."
Alfred rolls his eyes. "Forget it, then." He tries not to feel disappointed.
Ivan sucks in a breath and pauses, before releasing it with a sigh. "I suppose it would not hurt. But only a small section. And no telling anyone." He adds rather sternly.
Alfred huffs a laugh and grabs a wrist, dragging the larger nation behind him. "Like anyone would believe me."
There where it is we do not need the wall
Notes: The barbed wire and mutilated flesh is in reference to Peter Fechter, one of the hundreds of people who tried to escape from East Germany to West Germany.
The poem is Robert Frost's Mending Wall, and a damn good one. I suggest reading the full version!