Cell Door Magazine - Rumination by Gary Jackson

RUMINATION

No smiling faces, no screaming kids

My mind replays the life I lived.

Shackled and chained down the hall,

Lead to the right behind this wall.

There's a price to pay and no one to blame;

I risked it all and lost the game.

I leaped for the gold, took this fall,

Now I live within this wall.

Where the smell of hatred in the convict's stare

Is the silent challenge to the unspoken dare.

Into the night I fear the call

That'll empty my life within this wall.

I had my chances, but threw them all away.

I risked it all to make a fucked-up call

And this is where I'll stay.

I believe in nothing, nothing at all;

All hope dies inside this wall.

No smiling faces, no screaming kids

My mind relives the life I lived.

Before I was chained and forced down your hall

To do my time behind your wall.