I Remember

I remember an innocent little boy
Free and always full of energy,
But who lived with an atrocious family.
I remember a small boy
With a flashing smile and a winning way,
Whose father loved to beat him every day.
I remember a boy
Who was covered with bruises
From whatever his mother uses
To make him behave.

I remember a lost family
Who said the boy was worthless,
Who were to him often ruthless.
I remember an unforgiving family
Who blamed the boy for everything,
And gave him nothing.
I remember a neglecting family
Who left the boy out of their love--
Out in the cold.

I remember an embittered young man
Who didn't care anymore
What the world held in store
For him or what they could do
To him.
You see,
He had had enough
As people like him often do.
He wanted to be tough
And go his own way,
Do what he wanted
Which he did--
Until it caught up with him one fateful day.

I remember an imprisoned young man
Who was away for awhile.
I remember the smirking family,
Who to themselves smiled,
For they knew this was to happen.
They said he just didn't know how to behave.
"He," they said, "can not be saved.
For he is no good,
Was never any good,
And never will be."

I remember a free young man
But only for a short time,
For soon he was in a second time.
I remember a bitter family
Who said, "See, I told you so.
Off to prison he shall go.
Where only his kind belongs!"

I know a lifeless young man.
I peered at you in your coffin.
It's too bad I didn't see you often
In your last days.
It's too bad--
Such a shame.
Strangled and dead in your cell,
Body beaten and maimed.
And no one did anything,
Or will do anything.

I know a remorseful family
Whose father wonders why.
A mother who always cries
A brother
For just a few moments to forget the situation,
Walked through his graduation
As you laid in state.
Although now it's too late,
They feel sorry now
And try to find out how
This atrocity could happen.
But everyone was responsible
In his own way.
The family molded you,
You chose your own way
And murderers ripped you away
From this life.

I know a young woman
Who remembers you well
Who thinks of you still
As others try to forget
As others are filled with regret.
I learned you spoke to God
And chose another way.
I smiled for the first in a long time
That day,
Knowing your death was not in vain,
That you have peace
And no one can hurt you again.

I know a free man
Who went home
Whose life and death changed me,
Led me to another path--
To the good I need to be.
For that child in your coffin
Could just as easily have been me.