“Touching Memories“

by Darrell B. Grayson

2.26.61-7.26.07

Chairman of
Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty
from 1999 until the day of his execution

A LONELY PELICAN

Trolling the shore-line,

All alone

Watching, looking and fishing,

Vigilant to the rule of nature.

In the cycle of life

One never becomes just another

Place to be refilled in the food-chain.

Watching, I somehow find myself

A companion, a brethren,

Walking in each other’s steps,

And yet, I alone in this cell

Not considered pelican beautiful

Bot a preditor, unique perhaps,

Yet all alone on the misty shore

Of the human food-chain.

A THRILLING PROPOSITION

“If you will …

Picture yourself, sitting on a cold

Stainless steel commode in a cage,

Head bowed, waiting to grieve.

When suddenly, a rat and a cockroach go by.

Scurrying along in their train come the warden,

The prison commissioner, the governor

And the attorney general.

Bereft, you continue the process of grieving

As these … break their contemptuous, yet

Fearful stride through the facility, pausing

To stare fascinated at this particular cage.

… be dignified, as you complete those personal

Rituals of grief.