A Special Brick

You visit the Great Wall

And bring back one of its bricks

It is a special brick

Heavier than usual

You now own a piece of Chinese heritage

Your identity with your nation is more concrete

And each visitor to the Wall

Brings back a special piece

An illicit souvenir

It is a touchstone of civilization

The center of the Chinese universe

It has special powers

Unlike the billions of common bricks

Littering the countryside

And so, in time

The Great Wall will be no more a northern boundary

It will spread to all the corners of China

And sit distributed throughout all the homes of the land

Eroded away not by the constant winds and rain

But by the unending, uncontrollable

Will of the people