M's B
05-15-2002, 02:21 AM
I recieved this poem from a inmate at Pelican Bay
“To Awaken”
It’s not a dream……
What if you awake to never know freedom as before
To forever wear the weight of suppression
As your chains threaten to weigh you to the floor
What if you awake to never know the approval of your father
To hear the pride in your mothers voice and know them as adults
And finally understand why they never gave up and always continued to bother
What if you awoke to never know the love of a woman again
To know in your heart who she really is
As your fingers play across the fairness of her skin
What if you awoke to never know the laughter of your own child
To never see your eyes in his own gaze or your laugh in her funniest moment
Never to take that family photo in which everyone gladly smiled
What if you awoke to know that you’ve done irreversible and unnecessary harm
And wonder how any man or woman with honor learns to balance
Their personal want of freedom with societies understandable alarm
What if you awoke to know life forever more in societies human zoo
Where honor is rare and true friends even rarer
And the weak prey on the weaker for no better reason than the want of something to do
To awaken to the heavy hammer of awareness shapes or destroys
So when you awaken to all of this and possibly even more
You either find the strength to stand
Or die on that god dammed dirty floor
I choose to stand……. J. 4-19-02
Ms'b
“To Awaken”
It’s not a dream……
What if you awake to never know freedom as before
To forever wear the weight of suppression
As your chains threaten to weigh you to the floor
What if you awake to never know the approval of your father
To hear the pride in your mothers voice and know them as adults
And finally understand why they never gave up and always continued to bother
What if you awoke to never know the love of a woman again
To know in your heart who she really is
As your fingers play across the fairness of her skin
What if you awoke to never know the laughter of your own child
To never see your eyes in his own gaze or your laugh in her funniest moment
Never to take that family photo in which everyone gladly smiled
What if you awoke to know that you’ve done irreversible and unnecessary harm
And wonder how any man or woman with honor learns to balance
Their personal want of freedom with societies understandable alarm
What if you awoke to know life forever more in societies human zoo
Where honor is rare and true friends even rarer
And the weak prey on the weaker for no better reason than the want of something to do
To awaken to the heavy hammer of awareness shapes or destroys
So when you awaken to all of this and possibly even more
You either find the strength to stand
Or die on that god dammed dirty floor
I choose to stand……. J. 4-19-02
Ms'b