Within Prison Walls

  and taken out of our world,
   guarded, handcuffed and
   shackled,  all your clothes
   already on your body,
   you have no privacy,
   no property, no rights.

   Locked up, living for years
   out of a small bare cell
   with a male companion
   not of your own choosing,
   finally having the time and
   freedom to examine your life,
   you expand with forgiveness.

   Here, reformed and renewed
   with a new humility and
   appreciation for any gifts
   that come to you, unexpected
   and refreshing is your finding
   of an inner peace.

first published in BEHIND PRISON WALLS Chapbook

also published in Nomad’s Choir