Part II · The South Korea / U.S. Army Era (1997–1999)
“I told them my story, but nobody listened.
So here I am, in prison, imprisoned…”
“Destruction of private property!? Let me appeal to this jury:
I was drunk and disorderly, but not guilty of forgery.
Look, this isn’t the crime of the century, so don’t
Add insult to injury and accuse me of perjury.
Like a rock these charges are set in stone,
But the facts—the truth—have yet to be shown.
I understand you can’t have freedom for free,
That one must follow rules to a degree,
But the rules are set for a certain way of life;
So what else could I do when they cut me like a knife?
Communicating a threat? I fail to see the crime—
I mean you hear it from everyone; we’re threatening all the time!
Absent without leave? Now that you can believe.
There was something important I was trying to achieve.
I was driven by necessity, a victim of circumstance.
And as you well know, it’s the music makes the dance.
So there I was, the dancer, absorbed by the sound.
I knew what I was doing, but not where I was bound.
So consider my words and listen to my story;
I do things for the principle and a little for the glory…
“So here I am, in prison, imprisoned.
I told them my story, but nobody listened.”
Composed 1999 · part of the Poems collection · authorship documented on the Provenance page.