Prisoners

Death clasps bitter to cold steel solid bars, 

Stares captured, marked on stark stone walls,

Hallway shadows of every man drag shame the same, 

Parading stripes through half-lit halls.

Meals, though shared, are times to dare not speak, 

Or touch, to just leave others alone.

Forever nights stalk fleeting restless naps 

Plagued by damp-drowned brittle bone.

Are derelicts better buried deep in a cheap pine box, 

Or ashes strewn across a hateful sea,

Instead of caged in their timeless nightmare rage

Forced to face cruel humanity?

Thoughts haunt, "To punish, society denies." 

"Justice unseen is blind, unfair, unkind."

"Isn't each child born to grow up to be free, 

To learn to choose to speak sound mind?"

But if one's choice is wrong for mankind, 

Then choosers pay a merciless price,

Hidden caged because judgements reel to say, 

"They are bound to fall away twice."

Collapsed lumps on foul filth worn mattresses, 

Daydream hopes cling to past future times.

Tear-stained silence is the only evil evidence 

That hearts falter, pray to stay alive.

-P.S. Colley

Summer 1974

Rev. Nov. 2024

Cries of the Unheard