My Thirty-Year Cross

MY THIRTY YEAR CROSS Pain has many faces And, so many are still blind to mine They teach me first to work with pain Then I’m condemned by these same people gone blind I’m carrying a thirty-year torch for my freedom And, as I walk away from this cross I will put it back on your shoulders The heavyweight that I carried is my thirty-year loss Take your eyes and raise them to heaven And, turn around and look at me You make me fight hard for my beautiful life All your actions in the past made me a prisoner you see I will walk proudly away from this thirty-year battle But, with a small bit of advice, I will give When you count how many injured people you took down How many torches you put out when they fought hard to live Raise your eyes to the beautiful heaven Feel your weight on the ground Then, look me in the eyes again That’s the weight that I carried, from my thirty-year crown I can say I forgive, you gave me courage And, for the last thirty-years, God has kept me alive And, as I walk out of my prison, across this beautiful earth I’ll have an army of angels steadfast by my side… March 13, 2015 10: 15 a.m. A poem for my Injured Workers brothers and sisters