Liberation Through Literature
Sentenced to a cage
For a fatal, youthful mistake
Knowing that, as I age,
My painful regrets won't change
What I would if I could

Despite my life sentence
I seek to understand
The world that I live in
And who I really am,
So I can be a better human
Though the massive, dull, dark wave
Of the heartless state
Does its best to drown me.
My soul struggles just to breathe
And - feeling so lonely -
Sometimes wished I'd cease

Maybe masochistically,
Or stupidly,
I've chose to be.
Kept away from those that're kind
It's been within books that my mind
Has felt the rays of "light"
That my fate's denied
Giving me a taste, at least
Of a sweeter life.
Books fuel my dreams.
I shouldn't complain, I suppose...
Some lack even those.

But books don't always ease the pain
Of wond'ring how my life might've been
"If only I'd known..."
Sometimes they must close.

And this pain, this ache,
It isn't all bad.
It pushes my pen
Inspiriting poems
And prose,
Which, someday,
I hope,
Will make a book of my own.

Books, Books!
Books, books!
Inside, on their pages,
I've found hope.
Words, wrote down by sages,
Have corroded my cage.

Oh, how the brute hates
Love, intelligence,
Tender awareness
All the nice traits
Which some books dispense

Books, books
May've saved my soul
Or, at least,
Stayed the beast
From eating its full.

IF they have not,
I don't wanna know;
'Cause the proof that'd entail
Would spoil my tale
And justify jails

Books, books...,
They make me wonder
Why we can't make this world
Like those made of words
In pages I've curled.

As for me,
I'd much rather read
Or write than be
Part of the dark reality
The dull 'r' pushing on we.

Books, books!
Please con-tribute
New ones 'n money
TO this charity,
Helping crooks like me
And - I believe -
Our society