Freedom

Tortured and tired,
In chains shackled,
Here, I remain.
One of many such, incarcerated.

I yearn;
To be free.
As the swallow, flies in the wide open sky
Freedom. But that was not to be.

I seek:
Justice, freedom, dignity.
Now to me, those are empty words,
While I remain incarcerated, an example of inequity.

I crave,
To hear a voice, any voice.
Except those in my head,
Which is so so full of noise.

I dream,
Of the softness of my baby’s cheek,
Of the caress of my beloved.
To chance those again appear very bleak.

I hear,
The sound of laughter.
But I dare not look, lest it disappear.
And I am tormented forever, after.

I hunger,
For a home cooked meal.
But, I survive on the daily gruel,
That they serve here, it is the only deal.

I am human,
Yet I suffer a fate,
I would not wish upon any man,
I bear no grudges. I bear no hate.

I thirst,
For that day when I shall be free,
When these shackles that bind, burst,
And my soul, unblemished, flies free.