I was walled by a decency
I wished I knew how to ram
Breach the castled past to follow
Belated drives into worldly man.
Vacantly aware of the world's arms
Not daring her salvation nor sin
I was taught her voice was insidious.
Whispers of wickedness degraded
The original strain floating over the rim.
I thrilled and shuddered as it faded.
Bright holes that I scratched, unseen,
Revealed how much my circumference of the sky
Was mocked by the infinity of those
Who more freely moved outside the chimney of my eye.
I had waited long enough,
Dreaming, scratching and thinking apart
Then quietly leap with the heart.
The Wall from which the poem derives its title from is more of a metaphorical, psychological barrier than an actual physical wall. By painting the imagery of a battering "ram" and juxtaposing it with the image of a "lamb", the poet is perhaps making a critique of the Singapore society which has been taught to follow and not go against the law. The poem suggests a certain naivety of the "lamb" in contrast to the "worldly man", thereby making a criticism that Singaporeans are perhaps too caught up in their own world to realize that there is a bigger world out there.
He presents the idea of constraints by describing not the surrounding wall but the world outside the wall, using the words "sky", "infinity" and "...freely move..." - words associated with the idea of freedom. In the final stanza, we see the poet take the "leap with the heart", implying that by only by challenging the world around us do we truly become free instead of assuming that we are.
