BETTER TO LIGHT CANDLES
By Merle Shain
It is better to light a candle
Than to curse the darkness.
It is better to plant seeds
Than to accuse the earth
The world needs all of our power
And love and energy,
And each of us has something that we can give
The trick is to find it and use it.
To find it give it away
So there will always be more.
We can be lights for each other.
And through each other’s
illumination
We will see the way.
SO, DADDY WON’T BEG THEM ANYMORE
By Watani Stiner
There is no compassion
In parole board rooms
Where justice should prevail.
I have pleaded long enough.
So, Daddy won’t beg them anymore.
One-and-a-half decade separated from you,
Time has surely taken its toll.
They stole the years, kidnapped the dreams
I negotiated for you.
So, Daddy won’t beg them anymore
I wanted to curse them when I heard,
Parole Denied!
But only a whisper found its way:
What about my children?
So, Daddy won’t beg them anymore.
I will not seek their sympathy ever again – –
Sons and Daughters cast aside.
They have taken everything meaningful
Far away from me.
But I shall not surrender my dignity.
So, Daddy won’t beg them
anymore!
THE UNSUBDUED
By S.E. Kiser
I have hoped, I have planned, I have striven,
To the wall I have added the deed;
The best that was in me I’ve given,
I have prayed, but the gods would not heed.
I have dared and reached only disaster,
I have battled and broken my lance,
I am bruised by a pitiless master
That the weak and the timid call chance
I am old, I am bent, I am cheated
Of all that Youth urged me to win;
But name me not with the defeated,
For tomorrow – again begin.