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Nehemiah Questions Robert Frost
About Walls

“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.”
—Robert Frost, “Mending Wall”

“Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burnt with fire.
Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may
no longer be a reproach.” —Nehemiah 2:17

“I wonder what it is,” the prophet asks
The poet, “that is skeptical of walls.
Without one, any city is exposed
To enemy attacks. You ask what we
Are walling in and out. We need to know
Our neighbors well, of course; I understand
That walls may not be needed to divide
Your neighbor’s pine grove from your apple orchard.

Yet, there is human nature to consider.
When it comes down to it, most people will
Pursue their own advantage (history
Gives ample proof of that) and quite a few
Are power-seizing savages who’ll leave
No stone unturned to gather to themselves
The property of others. Speaking of stones,
My nation was invaded; not one stone
Was left upon another by our foes.
The city of my fathers’ graves was wasted,
Razed to the ground. We disregard the fact
Of adversaries, to our own destruction.

That’s where walls come in. The eighth commandment
Has no meaning—nor does law per se—
If anyone can take what isn’t theirs,
Including land (I know, my poet-friend,
That you would not), or barge across a wall-less
Border, take what’s there and call it theirs,
And steal not only property, but honor,
Violating children, women, men.

If I could prophesy to future nations,
Based on experience, I would advise
That they construct their national relations
With physical and spiritual walls—
The brick and mortar reinforced by hearts
Prepared against corruption and decay.
Our nation didn’t build them. That is how
We fell to the Chaldeans: by forgetting
The laws of God, who gave us all we had,
And would, as long as we would follow Him.

If not: no stones will mark where criminals—
Not hindered by a wall, but welcomed in—
Bury their victims, devastate once-strong
And prosperous places. Those with ears to hear,
Take heed: let robust hearts and solid bricks
Be set against such ruins as I’ve seen,
To save your land for future generations.
We need defense for neighborly relations.
Take no offense; good walls make safer nations.

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Cynthia Erlandson is a poet and fitness professional living in Michigan.  Her third collection of poems, Foundations of the Cross and Other Bible Stories, was released in July, 2024 by Wipf and Stock Publishers.  Her other collections are These Holy Mysteries and Notes on Time.  Her poems have also appeared in First Things, Modern Age, The North American Anglican, The Orchards Poetry Review, The Book of Common Praise hymnal, The Catholic Poetry Room, and elsewhere.

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12 Responses

  1. James Sale

    Really lovely work, and I am more than half-way through your Foundations of the Cross collection, which I think brilliant and really readable! So much so – my wife is going to read it, and she is usually a fiction buff! I think the stories you tell are intrinsically interesting, combined with some great psychological insights – it’s a great mix. I shall post a review on Amazon in the near future. Well done.

    Reply
  2. Brian A. Yapko

    Cynthia, this is a highly inventive and enjoyable dramatic monologue in the voice of a prophet who knew a thing or two about the necessity of having good walls and good boundaries. I love historical fantasy meetings like this! The application to contemporary times is apparent and compelling. This is an excellent use of blank verse which shows off what a versatile tool it can be in the poet’s toolbox.

    Reply
    • Cynthia Erlandson

      Thank you so much, Brian! It was fun trying blank verse, which I decided to use in imitatation of the Frost poem. My experience (which isn’t surprising, of course) was that it was quite a bit easier than writing with a rhyme scheme.

      Reply
  3. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Cynthia, this is a fascinating blending of Frost with Nehemia with the final three lines that make great points and rhyme perfectly.

    Reply
  4. Joseph S. Salemi

    Frost’s “Mending Wall” has always been politicized in some way, with liberals seeing it as a softly muted protest against human divisions and separations, and conservatives seeing it as a warning against too much utopian one-worldism.

    Here is a prime example of why looking for a “message” is frequently a menace when interpreting poetry. Frost himself was maddeningly ambivalent about what the poem “meant” — sometimes he spoke like the most sentimental of liberals about it, and at other times he seemed to side with the laconic neighbor who said “Good fences make good neighbors.” But that’s because Frost was the type to say whatever he felt would please his public audience.

    Cynthia, on the other hand, clearly takes Nehemiah’s side in the debate, and presents solid historical evidence as to why walls are essential. It is straightforward and assertive. But Frost’s poem is meditative, questioning, uncertain, and even kind of dreamy. Its position on walls is rather vague, since the speaker is the one who initiates the repair of the breached wall separating his property from his neighbor’s, and also says that a wall would certainly be required if either of them had cows.

    Frost’s poem is beautifully composed and polished. But it is philosophical and musing about a subject that needs to be thought of in the strictly Machiavellian terms of power-politics.

    Reply
    • Cynthia Erlandson

      Thank you, Joseph. I hadn’t known about Frost being ambivalent about the meaning of his poem (or about being one who tries to please whatever audience he was in front of). I think I have always assumed the poem was ambivalent; I like his poem, though I’ve often felt somewhat frustrated by not knowing the poet’s true point of view. I agree with you about trying to avoid a message, and I aways try to avoid sounding preachy — though, as you say, it’s clear whose side of the argument I’m on, so maybe I haven’t exactly succeeded in that goal here. As I said to Brian, I did enjoy trying blank verse.

      Reply
      • Joseph S. Salemi

        Cynthia, I don’t think a poet should consciously avoid a message — I just think that the message shouldn’t be the be-all and end-all of his or her poem. When everything is the message, the poem is preachy and boring. God knows I frequently deliver sharp messages in my poems. But the much more important thing about any poem is its aesthetic appeal, which includes excitement, daring, mystery, verbal skill, and countless other things that will make it satisfying and memorable.

        Your blank verse in this poem is fine. It is clear, concise, and eminently well written.

  5. Margaret Coats

    Cynthia, what a brilliant placement of speaker in this conversation across millennia! I think of Nehemiah as a diplomat and man of action, a civil servant and administrator in the Persian regime who became Judea’s restorer and effective ruler because he was able to persuade a faraway king that work needed to be done. You bring this individual with all his expertise to replace Frost’s neighbor of few words in “Mending Wall.” Nehemiah shares the neighbor’s view of walls, but you give him Frost’s more articulate style of speech, which he uses to overcome the poet in terms a New Englander can understand.

    It’s obvious that Nehemiah brings the wisdom of history to the discussion, but you also show him as a careful reader of poetry. He cites many lines and images from “Mending Wall,” as would a diplomat diligent in gathering intelligence for an important conference. He is courteous to the opponent, always attributing to him good motives and worthy values. But he clearly intends to defeat Frost’s recalcitrance about walls with nature and experience. Frost himself had used nature in his argument (that is, the nature of land and weather and hunters that cause unmended walls to fall into decay). In fact, the most amusing aspect of the poet’s argument (in his own poem, not here) is that he refers obliquely to “frost” as an enemy of walls moving the earth to swell against them.

    Your Nehemiah brings up what you succinctly call “the fact of adversaries” (human ones) against the poet’s stubborn simple life. Adversaries are facts of both human nature and human experience. You also move into territory Frost doesn’t cover with Nehemiah’s references to law and honor.

    I’m impressed as well by the references to spiritual walls.
    These are harder to build and maintain–but how many examples from human history do we need to see their value?

    The conclusion of the poem shows great finesse. You allow Nehemiah equal time with Frost (45 lines), but let him quickly slip in an extra rhyming couplet as punch line. Maybe we could think of your three rhyming lines as a referee’s bell ending the debate.

    A fine rendering of Nehemiah’s chapters into verse walls that can stand against Frost.

    Reply
    • Cynthia Erlandson

      Margaret, I’m truly grateful for your kind comments, particularly your appreciation of what you aptly name “verse walls” — the spiritual walls without which physical walls will eventually be eroded. It was fun to work in the bits and phrases from Frost’s poem (which, as I mentioned to Joseph) I do like. (How can a poet not like Frost?) I love your idea of the three rhyming lines as a referee’s bell. Thank you!

      Reply

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