city of walls

A city with a wall around it….

Stone and mortar…high and mighty.

Cradling, nurturing life within it

Kites, guavas, bangles aplenty.

Protecting the city day and night

The steadfast wall, all breadth and height.

The city had a wall around it….

The same stoic face for both sides

The traveler sees it from afar

The bazaar is right beside.

Impervious but for the city gates alone

The long stretch of grey and hard stone.

The wall breaks and the city flows….

Seeps out of its cracks

Oozes out of its pores….

The wall breaks and the city grows…

To prosper in trade

To rise in luxury….

One step forward

Two in a hurry….

Meters of black tar glistening in the sun…

The city has mettalled roads now

Fleeting glimpses of the other side through the traffic

The city has a new wall now.

Locked shutters, vacant parking lots….

Sinister sodium vapor at night

Desolate by seven, unsafe after eight

But there is no stone wall in sight?.....

Beyond the rows of cars the glass door is open

Expensive, loud, sleek new mall….

But the lady waiting for her bus will not venture in.

Invisible but stronger wall.

The high wall and ramparts had fallen apart…

The hard stone had crumbled years before….

But now the city has built new walls

Flashy transparent glass and more..

The city had a wall around it…

A high and mighty grey stone wall

And now city has walls within it…

Invisible and thin …yet will they ever fall??