Party In Berlin
On the 9th of November 1989
A wall in Berlin to history was consigned
As one party left the stage, another party gained its stride
Anything seemed possible, let’s tap the kegs and fill up all the steins.
In June of 1990 a train pulled into town
It was two days out of Leningrad, off the platform stumbled down
Yours Truly plus two classmates, bleary-eyed and lookin’ round
Ready to help celebrate Reunification’s countdown.
We walked to Checkpoint Charlie, we chatted with the guards
They’d stamp your passport if you asked, but else they just played cards
Sledgehammer rental on demand if you want to take a shard,
Of the Berlin Wall, but do it now, just one week ‘till it goes to the junkyard.
We were illegal aliens, our visas out of date
For peanuts we could live like kings on the black market rate
I’ve seen nothing else like it, and I don’t anticipate,
That I will again, but what a week we spent in that festive state.
My only experience as an illegal alien - after finishing my studies in the USSR I entered East Germany on a one-day transit visa, stayed to party as the Berlin Wall was coming down, and then walked out through Checkpoint Charlie three days before they ripped it out of the ground.
