This is the last of Three Poems at the Berlin Wall (Easter, 1990) by John Coutts, prefaced by a quote from Vaclav Havel: ''Living within the truth...is a moral act...an attempt to gain control over one's own sense of responsibility.''
WRITING ON THE WALL
(an inscription for the unborn)
When you come out to play
I shall be far away,
Dear children, still to be...
What can I say?
Remember Adolf? Make a note of me?
Don't overdo
The history thing - but still, it's wise and kind
To keep the poor old past in mind.
I wish I'd got the chance to spray
My words of wisdom on that grotty wall
Before its final fall!
Here's the graffito, pals, from us to you
From age to youth
WANNA BE FREE?
YA GOTTA LIVE IN TRUTH
That's all . . .
That's all . . . .
(from Words beyond Words by John Coutts, Robert Greene Publishing, #3.50)
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