Doom and despair, agony and loneliness,
they were my days and my companions for years.
Rage consumed my soul.

My mind screamed for a way to be heard,
long days locked in a box.
The stigma of a convicted murder.

The case false, but conviction so true,
no one cared what I had to say.
The courts turned a cold shoulder.

I almost fell into the void of no return,
hope a word or just a thought?
No, it’s a way of life for me.

Walk in those shoes… who, what, where?
All light at the end of that dark tunnel.
My life started to change.

You gave me a voice to be heard,
I have a voice again.
People are listening now.

I am a person again, with a story to be told,
I write and cast off the clouds of darkness.
I am alive again, through my published words.

To write heals my soul,
patches my torn spirit.
Justice may again be within my grasp.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.  Reggie West is serving life without the possibility of parole.  He can be reached at:
Reggie West #FE-6643
1000 Follies Road
Dallas, PA 18612