You know, some folks were once convicts;
Convicts of circumstances they acceded to
They walk with a murky history of a felon,
A shameful label of a haunting downfall.
They’ve been to the opposite side of the wall;
The blue, daunting, desolate side of the wall
Where you live, not by bread but by thoughts;
Thoughts of a better future in the present.
They’ve fought to be heard, loved and valued,
Fought for things that come freely to others.
They walk with a weighty burden of a loader
hoping you’d look past their glaring mistakes.
When they meet possible companions of love,
They fear the moment you’ll ask for a résumé;
a résumé, that tells a past they aren’t proud of,
They cringe, eager you won’t judge, but you do.
They often kneel to pick up pieces of themselves
broken and scattered in their attempt to please,
Regardless, they rise, dust up and keep walking;
walking, towards a dream and a world before them.
This poem was published in the January 2022 Edition of the WSA Magazine
Read – Snippet of Pain – A Poem by Festus Boama, Ghana
