Life has not been easy
Family abuse
Drug use
Enough pain to make you dizzy
The drugs first started to ease my pain
Dull my senses
Eliminate my defenses
Help me to forget my torment and shame
I committed no crime except to use drugs
Then got addicted
Emotionally afflicted
Tossed in jail and treated like a thug
My addiction takes me in and out of jail
I can’t stop using
I’m fighting and losing
And now the system is helping me fail
I’m an addict not a thug
I just need some help
Desperately need help
Connection, compassion and love
I’m getting out soon and I’m full of anxiety
Still just a kid
Just starting to live
Now with a record and shunned by society
I’m an addict, but still a human being
Don’t toss me away
Let this be a new day
In which I’m no longer afraid of living
Thank you Holy Spirit for the gift of poetry, which has helped me release the heaviness in my heart that I was carrying for the women in Twin Towers 251.
Sister MJ 