Narrated by Val Cole

POEM:

Got in a bit of trouble
A few years back.
It cost me very dearly.

Grew up in a Godly home
Never missed a service
Or a summer church camp.
My parents’ faith it was,
Not mine.

A rough crowd lured me away
A little at a time.
Innocent enough it began,
Weed and beer and wine
Peer pressure,
Rebellious risks,
Euphoric ecstasy.
Acceptance
Enchanted me,
Enticed me,
Enslaved me.

My parents saw the spiral
Down and away.
Refusing to fund,
My “wicked ways”,
I took to taking
First from them,
Then malicious marauding.

My friends turned out to be
No friends to me
More addictive drugs
Then abandoned
They left me scott-free.

Addiction clouded
My mind
My judgement
My determined
Destructive
Decisions.

Then…
On a torrential night of rain
The station attendant held at gun point.
With cash-filled bag
I backed away.
A sudden dash
A trigger pulled
A bullet blast.
Shot in the head,
I left him for dead.
I panicked,
Dropping gun,
The cash
And fled
To my car—my dad’s car.

With pounding heart,
I heard the car doors slam.
Uniforms approached my house.
Held my breath
For what seemed like years,
Waiting for my bedroom
Door to crash.

My mother shrieked.
To the window
I dashed
To watch my father led away
Cuffed
In a policeman’s grasp.

“You’ve got the wrong man in there,”
I said to the sergeant at the desk.
His eyes filled with tears.
“I wish I had a son
Who loved me as much
As you must love your dad,
But son, you can’t take
The rap for your old man.”

“NO!
Wait! You don’t understand.
I DID IT!
My father is
INNOCENT!”
I created such a fuss,
They brought my dad to hear my pleas.
“The boy is LYING!
Now take me back if you please.”

Destroyed,
When I heard the judge delcare,
“Guilty of murder
Death in the electric chair!”

I went to visit
Once only.
Two hours
Before he was to die.
His head was shaved
Two hours
Before he was to die.
He looked so different
Two hours
Before he was to die.
He looked at me
Two hours
Before he was to die
And only love was in his eyes.
Two hours before
He was to die.

“Dad, why didn’t you just tell
Them it was me?”
Silence…
My God he hates me
I cried and cried.
Then his foot
Tap, tap—tap, tap
Clink, clink, rattle, rattle, clink
Went his shackled chains
Then…his voice…
Soft…
Full of love…
Nothing but love,
“Because I wanted you to know
How it felt to have someone die for you.
Now, my dear, dear son,
Live
Like
It!”