I Wish I Was Free

My DYS home is cold and gray,
And made out of rock and steel,
And filled with little love to feel.
The mad and sad and broken teens
Who suffer here with me,
Cannot recall the last time they
Were happy and free.

We cannot recall
The trees and flowers
Nor sun, nor moon, nor stars.
Barbed wire and a high, forbidden fence
Shut us out from the real world.

Yet, I am happy and free,
Though tombed within this Hell
For mighty acts of God.
I see through cold bars from my cell,
For sparrows play outside my wall
In flight from fence to tree.
I know he grieves their every fall,
And I know he's here with me.

by J., Westboro Secure Treatment, MA