Saturday, December 16, 2006

I know the mortar in the wall breaks

Back to the walls (of October 2005). I was wrong. I can see that now. I focused on the holes at the expense of the bricks.

Its not that we need more bricks. We are inundated with them. They fall from the sky. A never-ending tetris monsoon. Chucked down by the gaming gods. We can dodge them all we like, but the pieces will just pile up at our feet, and trip us with their technicoloured edges.



We need to stand still and take the time to slot them into place. But we must break the rules of the game. We must leave gaps. Gaps to breathe, gaps to look out and see our fellow builders coping with their own walls. And if we spy anyone too good at the game - blocked in solid behind their wall - we must fling a brick in their direction, hoping to break a window in their rainbowed frame. As within those walls there is only darkness and suffocation.

I remind myself, we must not fix our holes. We must not plug our gaps. We must play but we must play badly.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's such a difficult game - you can't take your eyes off for one minute. The moment you look out a gap to wave to a neighbour could be the moment that a flood of bricks tumble on top of you.

(Also... what a fab picture!)

J. Andrew Lockhart said...

Great way of putting it. I agree with you.

Anonymous said...

I woke to a gap in my wall - someone I love had been chisling away while I had my eyes closed.