Category : Poems

Sub Category : N/A

These shackles have been my life
These many years
Worn to prevent more crime
That I have done through the years
Chaffed my skin
The sores still bleed
Tho I no longer care
I live a life of solitude
At my prison walls I stare


The sounds of youth are gone today
My life has passed me by
I am much older now
Than when I came to stay 
The smell of rotting flesh
Oozes through the floor
No cool breeze or summer air
To cleanse the stench in here


Darkness surround me
No window to let in light
No sky above or ground below
Can ease me from this plight
I'll stay awhile longer
Before death greets my soul
I've been repentant for my deeds
Though I've a long way to go


The luster of my youth has gone
I'm no longer young it seems
Don't know my age no more
Except in my dreams
I remember many things
Most of them bad
The good I could have done for you
Was never to be had


Crime and disease
Were my stock in trade
Sell you anything you want
But the price was the key
I'd take anything you had
Just to pay my wage
Didn't matter, young or old
Your pain would make my day


I'd wait upon the street
For you to show up
Begging for a little more
Of what you'd stirred up
Sin was high on the list
Of things to get from me
If it was 
To be had
I'm the man 
Who could get it for thee


No ordinary salesman
No conjuror of tricks
If it could be had at all
I could get the real deal quick
People came in droves
To see the wares in my stall
Some for little trinkets
Some for full blown falls


They would wander from the streets
And houses far and near
But all said I was the man
Though you'll have to pay, my dear
The coppers they all knew me
But none could pin a rap
I had money in all the right places
To get me out of their traps


I'd bide my time and rest awhile
As they would roust the lot
Sure enough the people came back
To get what they sought
All was good and right for me 
Until there came a law
That said you must do the time
If you break the laws


Someone must have been keeping track
For many was my crime
Through the years I've sold it all
And now I'm doing time
They threw the book at me
As the old saying goes
They told me I would rot in hell
For my committed crimes


They walked me to my cell
Chained me to the wall
And here i sit each day
Staring at these walls
Fair is fair 
I guess it's right to say
Crime it was good to me
Until they changed the law


Now I sit here rotting
In the darkened cell
Never to behold the sky
I'm buried alive in hell
Keeper comes to check on me
To see if I'm alive
Grant my wish this day please
I no longer care to be


A man alone 
In solitude
Arrested from this life
Bound in chains
In servitude
In pain and in strife


The challenge here
Has been my mind
To keep it intact still
Though days are long
I see no light
Here night is my companion


Days go on with no reprieve
No change in my affairs
The doom I used to run from
No longer makes me scared
I no longer run from the gallows
But look to it in delight
For it will end my suffering
It will end my plight


I long for the day
When freedom rules my way
When chains no longer bind me
And I can walk away
But that will only come 
When age takes its toll
I am here for all time
I've been kept on the roll


No escape for me this life
No chance of pardon for me
I must accept the cell I'm in
Will last me all my days
Remember me on your ways
And know there must be more
Than living life in a cell of sin
Created by mankind


Search for the freedom
Search for the light
That will give you all your desires
And fill your heart with love
Time will run away from you
And be gone so very fast
Choose the road you want to go
And there make your dreams last


My time is done
I've done my time
I've paid a price so dear
Repent from your wicked ways
The end is drawing near