Since I’ve Been In Jail
Since I've been in jail
the world has turned around the sun ten times
And if you ask the earth, it will say:
'It's not worth mentioning,
a microscopic time.'
And if you ask me, I will say:
'It's ten years of my life.'
I had a pencil
the year I came to jail.
It wore out in a week from writing.
And if you ask the pencil, it will say:
'A whole life.'
And if you ask me, I will say:
'It's nothing, a mere week.'
Osman who was jailed for murder
completed a seven-year stretch and left
since I've been in jail.
He wandered around outside for a while,
and then got jailed again for smuggling.
He served a six-month term and left again,
and yesterday a letter came saying he's married
and a child will be born in the spring.
Now they're ten years old
the children who fell from their mothers' womb
that year I came to jail,
And the colts of that year who had long thin shaky legs
have long since become docile broad-rumped mares.
But the olive shoots are still shoots
and they're still children.
New squares have opened up in my distant city
since I've been in jail.
And our family
is living in a house I've never seen
on a street I don't know.
The bread was pure white, like cotton,
the year I came to jail.
Later it was rationed out,
And we here on the inside beat one another
for a piece of black crust the size of a fist.
Now it's free again,
But brown and tasteless.
The year I came to jail
The Second One had just begun.
The ovens in Dachau Camp were not yet lit,
The atom bomb was not yet hurled upon Hiroshima.
Time flowed like the blood of a child with his throat cut.
Later that chapter was officially closed,
Now American dollars are talking about a Third.
But in spite of everything, the days have brightened
since I've been in jail,
And about half of them
'put their heavy hands on the pavement
and on the edge of darkness
straightened up.'
Since I've been in jail
the world has turned around the sun ten times.
And again I repeat with the same passion
what I wrote for them
the year I came to jail:
'They
whose number is as great
as ants on the earth
fish in the water
birds in the sky
are fearful and brave
ignorant and learned
and they are children,
And they
who destroy and create
it is only their adventure in these songs.'
And for the rest,
for example, my lying here for ten years,
it's nothing...
poem by Nazim Hikmet
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Dead, Jail, Or Rock 'n Roll
When I was a kid all I wanted to be
Was the meanest dude on the meanest machine
Now I'm going to wrong way on a one-way street
I never fit this society
I don't really mind
Doing my own time
The three choices I ever came to find
Were:Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
I ain't looking for trouble but it's looking for me
The law of the jungle is protecting me
Lose sleep man stay out of your bed
You might wind up in jail if you lose your head
In death I might find
True peace of mind
But while I'm alive
Free choice is mine
It's either:Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
I don't really mind
Doing my own time
The three choices I ever came to find
Were either:Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
song performed by by Warrant
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Dead, Jail, Or Rock 'n Roll
When I was a kid all I wanted to be
Was the meanest dude on the meanest machine
Now I'm going to wrong way on a one-way street
I never fit this society
I don't really mind
Doing my own time
The three choices I ever came to find
Were:Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
I ain't looking for trouble but it's looking for me
The law of the jungle is protecting me
Lose sleep man stay out of your bed
You might wind up in jail if you lose your head
In death I might find
True peace of mind
But while I'm alive
Free choice is mine
It's either:Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
I don't really mind
Doing my own time
The three choices I ever came to find
Were either:Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
Dead, Jail or Rock'n'Roll
song performed by by Warrant
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Holloway Jail
They took my baby, to holloway jail,
They took my baby, down holloway jail,
She was a lady, when she went in,
Now shes in jail, and its giving me hell.
She was succeeding in the city,
She was just beginning to excel,
Then a spiv named frankie simes
Led her to a life of crime,
And led her on the downward trail.
Frankie came home late from work one evening,
The c.l.d. were hot on his trail,
Frankie promised everything,
And then he went and turned her in,
She went and took the rap for him,
Now shes impaled in holloway jail.
They took my baby, down holloway jail,
They took my baby, to holloway jail,
There aint no pity, there aint no bail,
And she assures me that its living hell.
She was young and ever so pretty,
Now she looks so old and pale,
She never sees the day,
She wastes her life away,
Sitting in that prison cell.
They took my baby to holloway jail,
They took my baby, down holloway jail,
She was a lady when she went in,
Now shes in jail, and its giving me hell.
Shes impaled, in holloway jail.
song performed by by Kinks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Love Is So Hard, Life Is So Simple
Love is so hard
For whom?
For the ones that lost a loved one
By a murder
And for the criminal
Life is easy
Because all he does is seat in jail
While we pay to keep him in jail
But to be honest it is better to have a murder in jail
Than in the streets
Does the murder have any simpathy for the person he killed?
No
poem by Aldo Kraas
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned... a man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company.
quote by Samuel Johnson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The question at the end of the day was, the courts having found there was no defense, a producer about to go to jail, should CBS in effect tell the producer go to jail even though there is no law at all that we can use to get you out of jail?
quote by Floyd Abrams
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Small Children in Prison
'I only steal from the rich
Not from the poor,
I steal because I am hungry',
said the nine year old boy
as he was interviewed in jail.
Imprisoned for crimes
like stealing food to appease
hunger in the tummy,
Etsoy and others are caged like animals
sharing a pot of rice among
11 or 15 in-mates three times a day.
Mixed with adult criminals
charged with heinous crimes,
here they are in jail without pencil,
books, crayons and oil lamp,
Here they dread going to sleep,
scared of being raped.
And they look at the high fences
of concrete walls,
invincible by their bare hands
Here are fences that blind their eyes
from seeing the meeting point
between earth and sky.
Here are walls that deny them
to gaze at the sea, the boats,
the jeepneys, the ships and passers-by,
the birds perching on trees
and the rice fields at harvest time.
Yes, Etsoy and many more
Etsoys are in this jail
imprisoned, imprisoned
behind these high impenetrable walls.
Yes, the small children like Etsoy
behind these concrete walls.
are only called by numbers
or nicknames for who dare
to know their precious names?
Behind these high concrete walls
they are forgotten,
denied of their childhood and life.
And this prison
is their own
university of life.
poem by Elizabeth Padillo Olesen
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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To Get That Money
to get that money
make that money
steal that money
go to jail.
to get that jewelry
make that money
steal that jewelry
go to jail
banker man,
understand
steal that money
go to jail.
wallstreet man
understand,
steal that money
go to jail.
mr. thief
it's my belief
steal that money
go to jail.
mr. crime
I ain't lyin'
steal that money
go to jail.
poem by Richard Jarboe
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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But when we have families, when we have children, this gives us a purpose for being, to protect our children, to avoid going to jail because if I'm in jail, who looks after my children, who's there for my wife?
quote by Ernie Hudson
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Five Short Minutes
Written by - Jim Croce
Well, she was standing by my dressing room after the show
Asking for my autograph and asked if she could go
Back to my motel room. But the rest is just a tragic tale
Because five short minutes of lovin'
Done brought me twenty long years in jail
Well, like a fool in a hurry I took her to my room
She casted me in plaster while I sang her a tune
Then I said, "Ooh, ooee!" Sure was a tragic tale
Because five short minutes of lovin'
Done brought me twenty long years in jail
Well, then a judge and a jury sat me in a room
They say that robbin' the cradle is worse than robbin' the tomb
Then I said "Ooh, ooee!" Sure was a tragic tale
(Wasn't worth it, wasn't worth it!)
Because five short minutes of lovin'
Done brought me twenty long years in jail
And when I get out of this prison gonna be forty-five
I'll know I used to like to do it but I won't remember why
(Wasn't worth it, wasn't worth it!)
I'll say "Ooh, ooee! Sure was a tragic tale
Because five short minutes of lovin'
Done brought me twenty long years in jail"
Because five short minutes of lovin'
Done brought me twenty long years in jail
song performed by by Jim Croce
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Gangland
(smith/burr)
Shadows may hide you but also may be your grave
Youre running today maybe tomorrow youll be saved
You pray for daylight to save you for a while
You wonder if your children will face the killers smile
Dead men -- tell no tales
In gangland -- murders up for sale
Dead men -- tell no tales
In gangland -- where jail birds die
Face at the window leers into your own
But its only your reflection still you tremble in your bones
How long can you hide? how long till they come?
A rat in a trap but youve got to survive
Once you were glad to be free for a while
The air tasted good and the world was your friend
Then came the day when the hard times began
Now your alone but alive for how long?
A knife at your throat another body on the pile
A contract to keep and its service with a smile
Murder for vengeance or murder for gain
Death on the streets or a blackened out jail
Dead men -- tell no tales
In gangland -- murders up for sale
Dead men -- tell no tales
In gangland -- where jail birds die
In gangland you tell no tales
song performed by by Iron Maiden
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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God doesn't go to jail for the pound of weed you got caught going over the Laredo with - even though he apparently has the knowledge, power, and care to prevent it - you go to jail. God passes go and the courts collect two hundred dollars.
quote by Stephen Evans
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into jail for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned.
quote by Samuel Johnson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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When I was in jail, I was a lot of people's favorite person. I practically ran the jail. I had more freedom than the police.
quote by Flavor Flav
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I know a lot of reporters certainly will go to jail to defend confidential sources. Some have even gone to jail for an issue like this. But I can't say that's the norm.
quote by Floyd Abrams
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Change
She had a heart so pure, a love so great
I can only explain her as my soul mate
A special woman, she would make a perfect wife
But the path I took led to a different life
My dealing ways went from bad to worse
For the last few years its being a curse
Acting reckless and riding it tough
If truth be known ive had enough
I trust in the lord, waiting for a sign
Guide me away from this life of crime
How many times am I going to fail
Slip up once and im straight back in jail
So as I prepare for another try
I life in jail for what and why
As the cycle hardly breaks
Got to do right after all the mistakes
poem by Nic Hillen
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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You can jail a Revolutionary, but you can't jail the Revolution.
quote by Huey Newton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Teenage Jail
Stare out the window,
You cant make the time go
You dont even know why youre here
Wait for the weekend to go off the deep end
And make everything disappear
Youre lost in a teenage jail
So you and so vicious and so frail
Where something is always for sale
Youre lost in a teenage jail.
Youre not like your mothers.
Youre not like the others
Youre not quite like anyone else,
They dont even know you,
Got nothing to show you,
So get something good for yourself
Youre lost in a teenage jail
So young and so vicious and so frail
Where something is always for sale.
Youre lost in a teenage jail.
song performed by by Eagles
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Tale of Four Lives
The two brought their parents no glory, all they brought was shame
One was convicted of murder; the other eloped with a dame
The parents were left alone with a son getting life term in jail
About the other was nothing known, of him no one could tell!
They pined away in grief, before their tears dried up
Life was all a dark alley, full was misery’s cup
Thus rolled the years, then came the appointed date
If ever the forlorn souls could know their lost son’s fate!
Their lives broken and their dreams shattered
They went to their graves, it little mattered
What about the sons, what happened to them?
One died in jail, the other lost his dame!
poem by Pradip Chattopadhyay
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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