Short Life Sentence Poems

You breathe, you cry, you laugh , 
you learn, you fail, you wither, you die....

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We are all serving a life sentence of solitary confinement,
imprisoned within the boundaries of our own skin....

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Life Sentence

 American picked up at Cambridge, 
 Astonishedly could not explain it.
 Was he guilty?  No doubt.
 He ran off at the mouth,
 And utterly killed the King's English....

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A life sentence in prison is not misery
                                     ~ It's a state of mind


       December 28, 2018
Entry in "Misery" poetry contest
       Sponsor: Edward Ibeh...

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You curl up every day, next to my soul
So close I can feel you, with this heart that you stole
The penalty for theft
Is a lifetime obsessed
A life sentence, with really no chance of parole...

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After the diagnosis,
each moment a dream
of years and then months
and days in between

After the surgery,
the dream became real
time again captured
—the sentence repealed

(The New Room: December, 2021)...

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My broken soul weeps
Eternal tears for you

Never to understand

The thoughts inevitably obliterating my heart

Only glimpses of the former person remain
Fast fading into nothingness

And such will be the lethal life sentence

Forever will I weep
Weep, weep, weep

Not only until death

But beyond my demise...

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Calm as the still waters
Breezy as autumn's dew
your eyes depict the  skies

Right here in your love's prison
I'll serve my life sentence
I'm tempted with no reason
To be out of your presence

In my love's galaxy
You are the brightest of all the star'
Your love is soothing 
Like tunes from a guitar
I'll be with you till the end of time
My love for you will never expire.

     stranja...

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I confess and waive all my rights 
Premeditated crime in plain sight 
Songs will be written ‘bout my spree 
I’m guilty of “love in the first degree”* 

Duly convicted to a life sentence 
Gonna serve my time, it's my penance 
An early release is not for me
I’m locked in your love for eternity 
 

Written 3/2/2016
 
*’Love In The First Degree’ by Alabama appears on the album Alabama (1980)...

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Folk commit heinous crimes
we hear it on the news
senseless stabbings
multiple shootings
Bang! Bang! Bang!
So many innocent victims lose their lives

Callous cold blooded killers
get locked up in a cell
some live for many years on ‘death row’
they get reprieve after reprieve
sadly the victim’s families have a life sentence
and yet they call this justice


12/18/18...

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Some thoughts sail through
Others cut a jagged path
Snagging on innocent brain cells

Serious damage can be done
Obviously invisibly
Shouting for help pointless

Sentience comes with downsides
Overthinking and ruminating
Soothing from another not always an option

So, time heals
Only if the damage stops though
Self-imposed life sentence...

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Founded an army in my head,
In order to justify that sometimes,
Things are better left unsaid.
This life sentence,
Makes me think I'd be better off dead.
But I must remember to think bigger than myself.
I don't want my army to suffer along with me.
I must fight beside them,
Just as they fight beside me.
There is no failure, when there is still hope.
I've built up my tolerance, grown thicker skin.
I greet tomorrow with a new hope....

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Abandon all hope when serving a life sentence in prison.
Hope under such conditions can be a very dangerous thing.
Acceptance is what should be embraced in such a situation.
Acceptance can make the worst situation all the more baring.
I accept that my life is all down hill from here
if I allow the ties that I have to keep me here,
so once my ties have been severed, I'll disappear
into the wilderness where I'll spend my remaining years....

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Silent thrills 
dream love novels
fit for Oprah
and yet fit for 
prison;
serving a life sentence
for being unable
to comprehend 
the world and its 
dry smoke
grassroot
reality.
A hard-fought
battle of wit 
adds jet-fuel
to the flame
of emptiness,
nothing burns
nonetheless, taking
with it images
of Barbie dolls
and night-dividing
days filled with
never-ending
commandment-breaking.
Time is exiled,
the present is past.
The future is now....

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She is a prisoner of her own conviction
A self-imposed life sentence
Found guilty of scorn and self-doubt.

Often, she stands gazing intently into her mirror 
Scrutinizing the entire reflection 
Instead of the mirror encouraging her to love her beautiful self,
The reflection staring back disheartens her.

She wonders if these deep ingrained feelings will ever cease to exist.
She lies in wait, woefully, longing for the day
When her sentence comes to an end....

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NO LONGER

You no longer own me.

I am no longer a slave to your words
that held me shackled 
behind these invisible prison bars. 

I have changed the lock 
to the key you carried for so long,
warden of my emotions.

I am no longer bound 
by your life sentence of unworthiness.

Your gavel of judgement has been silenced. 

I can squint at the light 
flooding my chambers of darkness,
walk the halls of the past 

Past the mental cages. 

To newfound freedom...

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