Lines for JSRI and a Jesuit-educated man, from a prison infirmary

They say one day Someone

will ask of you --

Did you visit them while sick?

Did you go to them in prison?

 

Did you help them eat

did you give them drink

when they hearts were famished

and their souls withered for thirst?

 

Did you share with them clothes

to wear in the heat and cold?

Did you take them into your home

when they were sick and estranged?

 

Let me tell you what to say:

 

You visited me in my heart

and mind and you took me in

to a place where chains become choices

and rainfall brings rainbows

 

You fed me with truth

and took me to the well

of wisdom where I drank

and learned to have faith in faith

 

You came to me and clothed

me with kindness and virtue

Raiment against the never-

ending day and never-coming tomorrow

 

Let me tell you what I'll say:


With my heroes I've always said,

"I want to be like you,"

but with you I say,

"I want to be like us."

 

C is a student in Loyola University New Orleans' Prison Education Program at Rayburn, LA.

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