Prisoner's Death Sentence

Inspired by a young boy with Juvenile Huntington's Disease (JHD) who, over the past few years, has lost much of the little control he had left of his body. For more info. visit: www.www.hdsa.org

A Prisoner sits in the shadows of walls paper thin;

Paler than the whites of his cuffs which on his hands and feet sit. 

Few moments of joy are his own, 

And what little remains his cellmates mercilessly 

Shake, strangle, and stifle from him. 

To the warden and guards, his only sympathetic family and friends, 

His innocence is pure but the verdict is set. 

This Prisoner with judgment "his death sentence" already set, 

With the Executioner looming in the recesses of the courtyard where his cell is placed. 

Closer the Executioner seems to reach out, 

And like a puppeteer master with total control on his subject does what he pleases and 

Punishes, deforms, and rips the fine threads of control that in the Prisoner remain. 

The prisoner, he cannot escape: 

Helplessness, hopelessness, weakness…frustration.

The struggle, unbearable, why must he pay. 

“I want to…I’ll try…” 

His eyes seem to say, 

For his voice is all drowned out by the walls of his prison his cell, only his. 

The heat, unbearable, also blocks in all sound, pressing in, caressing his cheek, 

While the prisoner struggles and attempts to resist. 

His eyes all a flutter 

And peering out of the bars glance upon the Punisher’s own eyes

"So inviting" and the Prisoner’s own eyes subdue him then, 

Onto the cot upon which he’ll 

Lay on, forever residing