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Life is like Soup

Life is like soup.
The things that go into it make it 
what it is and give it flavor.

Life is like soup.
It would be a delicious soup if it 
were all joy and happiness, no worries
or troubles. 

Life is like soup.
It would be good soup if we did not 
have pain and sorrows and all kinds
of problems to deal with, but all 
those things work like seasoning
that help to make us able to live 
through stuff, and that makes us more
conscious and caring and aware of 
the world we live in. 

Life is like soup.
The ingredients you add to it, to make
it better or worse, are in your mind and
heart. Think of every person in
the kindest terms you can. Speak truthfully,
but in the kindest terms you can, about all
manner of things and people. 

Patience

They say that patience is a virtue, but 
There are such long nights I spend without you. 

There is not a minute of the day you don’t cross my mind: 
My love, in short, I think of you all the time.

The minutes on the clock slowly fade; 
An hour or a day feels like a decade. 

Each day and each week the waiting persists, 
And to think of you in torture I cannot resist. 

How much longer will I have to wait, I wonder, 
For my wants and needs have turned to hunger?

Everytime I think of you, 
I think of the sadder things that time can do. 

Once we regain time on our side, 
We will take each other to the highest high. 

I’m hoping the day won’t be too far 
When I’ll join you, my love, wherever you are. 

We will laugh, we will cry, and then we will kiss, 
And do all those things together we both so miss.

We will talk of how things were with me; 
We will picnic under a shady tree. 

We will talk of how things were with you, 
And eat peanuts and candy at the county zoo. 

The most important thing to me 
Is that I’m with you and that I’m free. 

So keep in your mind that day, anticipating, 
The day we will spend no longer waiting. 

They say patience is a virtue — 
Soon I will be with you. 

Disclaimer: The views in this article are those of the author. Prison Journalism Project has verified the writer’s identity and basic facts such as the names of institutions mentioned.

Kevin Bernard Haley

Kevin Bernard Haley is a writer from Memphis, Tennessee, who is incarcerated in California. He said his moral compass changed in his early teens, doing things he should not have until it landed him on Death Row.