The Walls

Big Brother is watching. All of us have had the feeling that we are being controlled by an entity bigger than ourselves. George Orwell takes this feeling to a disturbing level in his book 1984. Orwell describes a totalitarian dystopia, where every aspect of society has been manipulated to reduce humans to cowering, mindless beings. The authority, Big Brother, constantly monitors every move, and even thought, of every person. Those who are caught straying from this structured lifestyle aren’t just punished, they are erased from existence. I based this poem, The Walls, on scenarios and feelings from this book. (If you haven’t read 1984, I highly suggest you do.)

The Walls

Watch your mouth! The Walls are thin,
And even they have ears.
You'll never know just what you're in--
It's been this way for years--
Until one day a whispered sigh
With but a trace of discontent
Barely through your lips it flies,
And then, away you're sent.
Unwillingly you melt away
As the Walls around dissolve.
The question or your newfound state
No logic ever solves.
The thundering in your pulsing ears,
The silence that surrounds;
A contrast that can feed on fears
In the darkness that abounds.
What is it that the darkness hides?
Is it better? Maybe worse?
Useless! These you'll never find.
Each question is a curse.

But I can tell you I have been there too,
Though many years ago.
Of course, if these words I speak are true
You'll have no way to know.
For as you are, I once was too,
And I vanished without a trace;
Erased from the world I used to know.
No name. No soul. No face.
Even friends forgot my life
As quickly as it left.
And since I never had a life
No one could mourn my death.
So here I am, as you have found,
A new meaning of ‘alone’,
Obscured beneath some unknown ground
With six Walls all my own.
All because my thoughts were mine
And not those of the flock.
The Walls, our shepherds, were inclined
To make the bleating stop.
So they sacrificed me silently
For the not-so-greater good.
They spilled my heart, my soul, my mind
And washed away my blood.

If you speak a thought the Walls don’t like
Even think it, dream it, too,
The imposing Walls possess the right
To 'dispose' of you.
And the Walls are quite good, you see,
So thorough in their work.
You do not simply cease to be;
You simply never were.
There will be no evidence you ever were,
No memories, no tears
Your final plea to just be heard
Will fall upon deaf ears.
The Walls won’t just contain your cries,
They will even silence echoes.
No good comes if the martyr dies
And no one ever knows.

So don’t be stupid with your thoughts!
Control what’s in your head.
That’s the lesson I was taught
In my omitted life and death.
Hold your tongue and guard your mind.
It’s the best warning I can give.
You may not live a happy life,
But you’ll be allowed to live.
Watch your mouth! Control your self
What more can I say?
If you can’t silence your own self
The Walls will find a way.