Imagine

Imagine
by a California prisoner, May 2006

Imagine a world where time stands still
Where nothing you do is of your own free will
Stripped of your freedom, your hopes, your pride
Surrounded by strangers with no place to hide

Imagine a place where you?re told what to wear
A place where no one is allowed to grow hair
You are told each day you?re not to talk
And where and when you can and cannot walk

A world where you sleep, surrounded by hate
Where all you can do is just sit and wait
Imagine a world where you have no choice
Where you can?t even think because of the noise

A world where you work but get no pay
And made to feel worthless each and every day
A world where days crawl like a snail
Where all you have hope for is a piece of mail

A world where you have to eat real quick
Does this sound like a world that would make you sick?
Imagine a world surrounded by wire
Able to walk from this place is my greatest desire

A world like this is hard to conceive
Yet here I am and cannot leave

For some more prisoner poems of this standard see: http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/agitation/prisons/poetry/index.html