Nevertheless, I Still Believed...A Poet's Post Prison Memoir

I held on tight through doubting voices, the peace I found can't be conceived

A deadman's hand - two strikes - and snake eyes...Nevertheless, I Still Believed

Locked away for many seasons/a grueling, lonely ten year stretch

Indelible marks of pain and suffering within my soul were deeply etched

Finally home, I walked uprightly, yet, many sorrows would soon arise

Homeless people still slept on subways/the love they lacked seen in their eyes

Pedophiles did things to children, some were N.Y.P. and D

I stayed up nights/my spirit questioned how heinous things like this could be

On Christopher Street, the trannies younger, I could've sworn that one was ten

Right up the block, a boy named Michael, who turned his tricks with older men

The cell phone craze made me disgusted, to be seen their one desire

Branded Hands and Numbered Foreheads...bogged down in New World Order's mire

This country cares for poor Iraqis, for Truth and Freedom our soldiers toil

Patriotism by me regarded, still I know it's about the Oil

So many emotions overwhelmed me...The tears I needed were not supplied

It seemed that life had much more meaning when this man spent years inside

Then my health, which I thought was stable began to slowly fall apart

A blocked valve, my beat irregular...an aneurysm was in my heart

Bypass surgery, a long recovery; I felt defeated down in my core

Yes, there was weakness and thoughts of suicide, because I'd been through this before

Without Faith I cannot please Him/My will to Live replied  "agreed"

Severe tests of mind and body...Nevertheless, I Still Believed