Creative Commons License

Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.

Photo by Shoeib Abolhassani on Unsplash

time doesn’t know how to stop

it keeps striving with you or without you

the summer and the fall will pass, the winter will arrive and as soon as the Christmas snow starts to fall down

scars of the heart, memories of the family … tears come down

years passing away, the fact sometimes is cruel as months without a letter from them, a year without connecting a phone call for whatever institutional reason, but my heart still connected

they are in another country, and I am in level five security — that looks too far, and, indeed, it is

I would like to have a visit, but for now that’s just a nice dream, I smile anyways knowing they love me as much as my love for them

you know, one year is done and another begun, another will pass and as well others will be done … but forever will be someone behind the phone, behind the wall, behind the heart and soul, even if I can’t hear the voice.

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.

Alan Li Camarillo is a writer incarcerated in Missouri. He is using a pseudonym.