Gift of hope

Perhaps the most valuable gift

I’ve ever received

Saved my life

It was the gift of hope

Freshly arrested

First time in jail

Facing life no parole

And other inmates saying things

Like: “You’ll die in here”

I was straight up suicidal

Until the forensic psych told me

“You’ll just do a few years”

In a mental health facility

It was a white lie to stop me

Ending it there and then

The idea of pleading innocent

By way of insanity

Had never occurred to me

And where I saw nothing but misery

For the rest of my days

Now I had just a little hope

Looking back I see

That he was trying to save me from myself

But that notion of

A manageable sentence

Kept me from suicide

In the end I got

What the lawyers called ‘Second Prize’

No psych ward

But manslaughter with a six

By then I had already done two

So it was a blessed four years to go

That, I could deal with

The psych had a break down

Couldn’t appear in court

But he had already saved my life

With the gift of hope