My Face is to the Wall

This is a Free verse poem I wrote about the situation I feel this young man was in.

This is all I know. My miserable state has not changed
\since I don’t know when. All I see are chains on my
hands and a wall that stares blankly at me…my face is
to the wall. I’ve heard many sounds, none of them pleasant.
I hear screams occasionally, echoing off the roughly hewn
stone. The pleas for rescue resound through the corridors.
I wish I could help those people, somehow save them from
their miserable state, but then I remember: my face is to the wall.
So many times I have felt the punisher's whip rake across my
back, he says I deserve what I’m getting. I believe him. If I could
just for one second abandon this place, just once feel the…I can’t
remember what it’s called…across my face, I would…I would…my
face is to the wall. Suddenly I heard a noise outside my door, oh
not again. But there was no beating, no whip to bruise my back.
Instead there was just a simple man clothed in…what color was
that…He said that my debt has been paid, I was a free man. Oh
the thought to get outside this hell, this miserable excuse for a
home. I would go outside. Outside? Was there even an outside
to this place? I did not remember. I told Him thanks, but that it
was safer in here, nothing bad could happen to me. For hours
He pleaded with me, said I was a fool to not accept, but every
time I would turn away and face the wall. He left saying that this
might be the last chance I got to be free. I told Him I would take
the offer next time He came by, decidedly turning to face the wall.
The door shut that day, and I haven’t seen Him since.

The wall has become to me my one and only friend. His grey rocks
and poor mortar tell me that I don’t need that Prince. For they have
seen Him many times, and they say no one takes the deal. He tricks
them, the Wall says. I hear them all night, they comfort my sleep.
They tell me I’m justified just by staying here. The wall will never leave
me. Will never forget. My face is to the Wall, and I won’t turn away.

Created about 3 years ago