Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash.

What beauty is found in prison?
What music from bars do listen?
Suffering is the sound
From the madness around
To quench hope is T.D.C.’s mission

There’s a secret people don’t know
A sliver of light they won’t show
A seedling on the rise
Fed by tears and cries
By the blood of our shame, it grows.

This must stop, all the guards do shout
Take their smiles and change them to pouts
Deprive, beat, or gas ’em,
With a case, club, or lash ‘em
By our boots, we must stump it out

Desperately they keep us apart,
But the song of our souls passed start
Though we’re chained to the ground
To the sky, we are bound
Though here, you must lay down your heart

What beauty is found in prison?
What music from behind bars do you listen?
Suffering is the song
From the madness around

There’s a secret people don’t know
A sliver of light they won’t show
A seedling on the rise
Fed by tears and cries
By the blood of our shame, it grows.

This must stop, all the guards do shout
Take their smiles and change them to pouts
Deprive, beat, or gas ’em,
With a case, club, or lash ‘em
By our boots, we must stamp it out

Desperately they keep us apart,
But the song of our souls passed start
Though we’re chained to the ground
To the sky, we are bound
Though here, you must lay down your heart.

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.

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Troy Glover

Troy Glover is a writer of science fiction, non-fiction and poetry. He holds an associates degree and is working on his bachelor’s degree. He is incarcerated in Texas.